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

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Interesting that MAL in his interview said he sat up because he thought it was too far out, so not "no legs", but just not interested.
I'm not sure I'd believe him. Probably he thought it's too far out, yes, but he tried to bridge to the pair when they were just about 5s ahead. He was in no man's land between the two groups for about 5min at least. He tried to bridge, but just couldn't do it. Then he probably sat up and was reabsorbed by the Bahrain lead chasing group.
 
I'm not sure I'd believe him. Probably he thought it's too far out, yes, but he tried to bridge to the pair when they were just about 5s ahead. He was in no man's land between the two groups for about 5min at least. He tried to bridge, but just couldn't do it. Then he probably sat up and was reabsorbed by the Bahrain lead chasing group.
Haigs Strava data tells you enough. He sat in the valley with 130 BPM average HR, while Bernal and Roglic were riding. The group was doing recovery pace in the valley and still did a slower time.
 
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I’d be worried about him staying on the descent with them honestly but with Haig it stops Bahrain from working like they did when they could have forced Movistar to work and make it easier for Haig to podium or give up on 1st.
It would make sense, but you also need to have the legs. I think Haig was the weakest among the top7 yesterday and probably weaker than his teammate Mader, too. I think he is just happy to be in this kind of company right now, although if there is chance to get on the podium, he'll gladly take it.
 
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You are almost there, just a few more.
3...
2...
1...
0...
-1...
I guess there's no limit for this?

I created a bigger climb than Gamoniteiru with this.
 
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What he meant by that, as @Escarabajo said, is that on stages 17 and 18 he will try to attack, and that if that means getting exhausted and dropping several places in the GC it will be worthwhile, because either way he won’t get to be on the podium.

This is something you'd never hear Uran say.

imagen.png

Well, to be fair, Uran would only ever quote Jagger.
 
This was Bernal with his best attitude, not his best legs. I think it's the 2 Slovenians, then Bernal, then the rest, and the gap to the latter might be the greater one.

I hope that all 3 target the Tour in 2022; it will feel like 2014 (Froome/Pogacar, Contador/Roglic, Nibali/Bernal). Not saying that Egan will win in the manner that Vincenzo did, but that we can get a totally enthralling race if none of these guys have bad luck.
 
This was Bernal with his best attitude, not his best legs. I think it's the 2 Slovenians, then Bernal, then the rest, and the gap to the latter might be the greater one.

I hope that all 3 target the Tour in 2022; it will feel like 2014 (Froome/Pogacar, Contador/Roglic, Nibali/Bernal). Not saying that Egan will win in the manner that Vincenzo did, but that we can get a totally enthralling race if none of these guys have bad luck.
Bernal is better in 2021 than in 2020, winning the Giro and looking very good in week 3 of the Vuelta. His trend seems to be going back up. It would be great if his scoliosis issues are neutralized and his training/racing can go forward to capitalize on his talent and courage.
 
While I enjoy Bernal, I still struggle to identify his best features, he is still young, had a lost season in 2020 and appeared as a leader in very few races. Is he good on steep climbs, how does he fare in TT's?

From what I've seen, he seems to be better in longer high altitude climbs (Iseran, Giau), but he's not without acceleration, like Quintana, as he usually responds quite quickly. He's incredibly good at gravel and bike handling (perhaps due to his MTB background) and an apt descender (like the Covadonga stage). He appeared to defend well in time trials, but I still can't see if he can lose a GT on this basis. Smaller climbs also are still an unknown to me. From what I see, the Vuelta appears to be the least suited GT for him (smaller, steeper and not many successive mountains).
 
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This was Bernal with his best attitude, not his best legs. I think it's the 2 Slovenians, then Bernal, then the rest, and the gap to the latter might be the greater one.

I hope that all 3 target the Tour in 2022; it will feel like 2014 (Froome/Pogacar, Contador/Roglic, Nibali/Bernal). Not saying that Egan will win in the manner that Vincenzo did, but that we can get a totally enthralling race if none of these guys have bad luck.

Alien vs Predator was cancelled in 2014 and in 2021 so I don't hold out my hopes for 2022.
 
While I enjoy Bernal, I still struggle to identify his best features, he is still young, had a lost season in 2020 and appeared as a leader in very few races. Is he good on steep climbs, how does he fare in TT's?

From what I've seen, he seems to be better in longer high altitude climbs (Iseran, Giau), but he's not without acceleration, like Quintana, as he usually responds quite quickly. He's incredibly good at gravel and bike handling (perhaps due to his MTB background) and an apt descender (like the Covadonga stage). He appeared to defend well in time trials, but I still can't see if he can lose a GT on this basis. Smaller climbs also are still an unknown to me. From what I see, the Vuelta appears to be the least suited GT for him (smaller, steeper and not many successive mountains).
Bernals ITT isn't good IMO. Overall he's still way more well rounded than Quintana was though. He also seems to do better than the pure climbers on stages where they drill it before a climb. High fatigue resistance even if not the purest W/kg God on the planet.

And we still don't know what the reason is for his poorer form earlier in the Vuelta.
 
Bernals ITT isn't good IMO. Overall he's still way more well rounded than Quintana was though. He also seems to do better than the pure climbers on stages where they drill it before a climb. High fatigue resistance even if not the purest W/kg God on the planet.

And we still don't know what the reason is for his poorer form earlier in the Vuelta.
He had Covid after the Giro and there was that massive Ineos crash in Burgos.
His biggest strength seems to be his endurance and he loves a hard stage with lots of climbs and high altitude, he's a lot like Nibali in that regard.
 
Another feature of Bernal that I remember is that he is a very savvy racer. Always on the front group in splits and sometimes contributing to create them (Quintana was also a good racer, he put himself in contention in 2019 Vuelta only due to these ambushes).
 
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He had Covid after the Giro and there was that massive Ineos crash in Burgos.
His biggest strength seems to be his endurance and he loves a hard stage with lots of climbs and high altitude, he's a lot like Nibali in that regard.
I have seen comments in the media to downplay the Covid. In other places they have put great importance for reasons of poor performances in some of the riders. Even if asymptomatic you loose almost a month of good training. We'll know better next year.
 
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Bernal doesn't look like an early peaker to me.

Looking at these young guys winning left and right I'm not sure. I don't think it's a coincidence - something changed in preparations of teenagers. It's more professional and they are more developed and ready to fight for glory in their early 20s. As for physical peak: maximum aerobic capacity tops at the age of 20-25 so with the right development and professional training from early days it's feasible that cyclists peak by the age of 25.
 
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