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Teams & Riders The official Egan Bernal is the new Egan Bernal thread

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Imagine an Ullrich 98 hunger bonk with cold weather on top.
Now that I think about it that 96, 98, and 03 Tours are the ones that got away from Ullrich. Sure he Riis was strong but I think Ullrich could have matched him. Plus Ullrich said Riis had inspired the team which he could have did with Ullrich leading. But then maybe the 97 domination doesn’t happen. Then 98 even though he totally let himself go he was in prime position to win besides Pantani going crazy on the stage and Ullrich not eating or wearing warm clothes losing 9 minutes. Not one he could have won but in fact 01 it has been said he was in his best shape ever and barely taking outside help (if you believe that) and still got curb stomped leading to his depression. Then 03 if that went a little different could have been the one he took from Lance, especially if he actually rode the final TT instead of watching a video of the route.
But if he won 4 Tours would he be as loved?
 
Did Bernal struggle? yes. Did he put time into, or at least hold, against all his rivals bar Yates? yes. It was hardly a bonk. It also followed a rest day which can be tricky.

I think he'll be fine but I hope it's exciting from here cause I love the drama. Yates needs 3.5x more time than he gained in this stage. So Bernal will have to get worse from here for it to be close.
 
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He can afford to ride calculated and lose some more seconds.

It is still risky business when you have started to get dropped though.

At the end of the day, it is just what he has left to give and what the others have and Im sure they will go for it. If they gain a minute or so tomorrow it will be some suspense going into the final time trial.

If he rode smart today he might have more in the tank to manage and have a "safe" distance in the time trial. We will see.

He is definitely in pole position but that could change quickly if he has another bad day.
 
So the gossip in several podcasts is that it was total dehydration on Wednesday. So it makes a lot of sense the way he just dropped completely the way he did. And he was sweating a lot. The last time I saw that on a leader was Armstrong in 2003 Tour. Armstrong said that he needed at least 3-4 days to recuperate completely. Tomorrow might be a little fresher than the last 3 days and could help him more. But today He was a little better than 2 days ago.
 
He can afford to ride calculated and lose some more seconds.

It is still risky business when you have started to get dropped though.

At the end of the day, it is just what he has left to give and what the others have and Im sure they will go for it. If they gain a minute or so tomorrow it will be some suspense going into the final time trial.

If he rode smart today he might have more in the tank to manage and have a "safe" distance in the time trial. We will see.

He is definitely in pole position but that could change quickly if he has another bad day.
Smart riders win GTs more than those that expect to hammer people for 3 weeks. It's also a hopeful sign that riders aren't lining up to the gas pump each night. He responded when he needed to and the others may have not. Very exciting final stages, though.
 

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