Bernal, the strongest climber in the world?? Who said that? When he beats dumoulin or froome, we will talk. I agree with you, pinot was the best climber until his withdrawal, but let's be honest froome and dumouli are in a clear different league from the rest of the gt guys.
You didn't say Bernal was the strongest climber in the world, but many people and analysts held him in very, very high regard. And for good reason. I mean, he, a 22-year old having only ridden one GT before as a helper, was crowned a podium-contender at the very least by everyone - and the rather well-respected Danish and Scandinavian cycling hub feltet.dk actually put him as
the favorite. Bookies had Bernal as co-favorite with Thomas. This forum also had Bernal as the favorite for the Tour;
https://forum.cyclingnews.com/threads/2019-tour-de-france-predictions-challenge.34652/post-2369414 , with Pinot and Thomas filling out the podium. You could rightly point out, that Tour-favorite = best climber (in the world), but I think it's fair to say that it is difficult to win the Tour without being one of the very best in the mountains. But the thing is, that the reasons given for him being looked at as the favorite, was because of his climbing, not his TT, which was supposed to be better than everyone else, including Thomas; which could cause frictions like Wiggins-Froome 2012.
Now of course you could make the sound argument, that all of this wouldn't be the case if Froome didn't crash, Dumoulin didn't crash and Thomas didn't show poor form and crashing in Suisse. Matter of fact, they did. If you read what I wrote, I said that Froome and Dumoulin are unknowns. Sure, those two at the top of their game are in a different league from the rest of the gc-guys. The thing is, noddy97, that we don't know whether they still are. This aren't "simply" broken collarbones, they are dealing with. Froome's crash could have ended his life. Dumoulin kind of messed up his knee, which is one of the most complex parts of the human body. It is just as likely, if not more likely, that Froome's GT-winning level he discovered in August 2011 has vanished, or at the very least, partially gone. It is also a possibility, that the decision to ride on while not having his knee sorted out, will hamper Dumoulin in the future - and with recent GC-winner Roglic as his team-mate, he might not get the benefit of the doubt, if question-marks regarding his level persists because of a poor start to the season. So what I do, is that I look at the present reality (the stages, the results, form, injuries), how I perceive it (I think Bernal looked strong, but Pinot stronger - stage results also reflected that imo), and forming my opinions from that.
Of course, should both Froome and Dumoulin recover, it would be foolish not to consider them top favorites for the Tour - I just can't say that they will.