Re: Re:
brownbobby said:
DFA123 said:
argel said:
To be fair, I don’t think Sky have made any secret of their goals being to achieve Tour success with British riders, I guess this is/was important to the sponsorship model. So whatever the ‘key’ has been to this success it’s no surprise it’s been most focused on Brits so far....
Is this about to change with the recruitment of Bernal? Maybe so
I have my reservations about it, on the basis that right from the outset they acquired the services of two Colombian supertalents, in Urán and Henao. Henao had just won the Vuelta a Colombia, the youngest winner of it in over 20 years (since Oliverio Rincón in 1989, for the record) and was seen as the next big thing, but he's carved out a very good niche with Sky but never become a GT leader. The way they have treated the likes of Mikel Landa may be the future of Bernal, because the fact of the matter is that the Tour is so much above the rest of the GTs in its global outreach that Sky will always be more interested in the British leader at the Tour, so I would expect Bernal to get palmed off with the other two GTs for the foreseeable future, unless he goes elsewhere; Sky aren't really a team that does the 'free role' for a leading option like a "1b" - just look at the 2013 Giro where they pulled Urán and Henao back to ride with Wiggins when he lost his nerve; they could easily have left one forward and pulled one back, a bit like Caisse d'Epargne when Valverde lost time into Suancés in 2008, when they pulled everybody but Joaquím Rodríguez back, because they knew with the flat chrono already done and mountains to come, Purito would be another hand they could play in the GC.
Now, this is Bernal's first pro contract, and he's shown himself to be sensible and loyal thus far, which I will admit was always an issue with Landa, as there was always the threat of the volatile Basque 'going rogue' (and indeed I know a lot of fans played on that in the desperate hope that if nobody on other teams could cause Froome any problems, at least one of his teammates might). But even Richie Porte, who was a loyal and well-behaved helper to both Wiggins and Froome, got palmed off with secondary races, and I can't really see Bernal not outgrowing that role unless he stagnates horribly (and let's face it, there have been a few talented riders who stagnated at Sky, but on this year's evidence thus far Bernal is not one of these).
However, I cannot see any real circumstances that would arise where Egan Bernal leads Team Sky at the Tour de France, unless there are significant injury issues. Giro, sure. Vuelta, maybe (Sky seem much more keen on the Vuelta than the Giro, but perhaps that's more because of Froome's historic determination to win it, or perhaps because of the ability to use Tour success to market it to the British TV audience due to the Tour's higher outreach, which is harder to do with the Giro). However, Tour, no. They're much more likely to sacrifice him to turn Tao Geogeghan Hart or Owain Doull into a winner in l'Hexagone, I would anticipate.