'There is no respect' - Egan Bernal criticises riders for attacks while Tadej Pogacar takes a break from the 2024 Tour de France

One of the many unwritten rules of the peloton has long been that when the race leader – in the case of the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar in the Maillot Jaune – takes a nature break, there is a respectful truce until the leader returns. But according to Egan Bernal, that respect no longer exists in the modern peloton.

“In the 2019 Tour, the race was, let’s say, a little more controlled, it was a little more predictable what was going to happen,” recalls the 2019 Tour de France winner in an interview with Marca on the rest day. “There was even more respect in the peloton, now there is no respect at all. Yesterday the ‘yellow jersey’ stopped to urinate and that was a moment when you know that everyone has to have respect. The breakaways had already started and there were people who continued to break away, that didn’t happen before.”

“The truth is that in 2021, after COVID, things have changed. So let’s say that not much has changed from 2021 to today, quite a lot has changed since 2019,” continues the 27-year-old Colombian, not entirely convinced that the change was a change for the better for the riders in the peloton.

During the first week of the 2024 Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar has been the leading figure, although unlike the Giro d’Italia earlier this year, the leader of UAE Team Emirates has not yet managed to completely break the fighting spirit of his main rivals. “Apart from the legs, you have to wait for the right moment. I think nobody is invincible and that has already been proven. Jonas Vingegaard beat him and he did it very well,” assesses Bernal. “I think Vingegaard is a rider who can do very well, he waits for his moment, he doesn’t get carried away. And sometimes it’s better to have a little patience than just put on a few shows. That’s good for cycling, but to win you also have to ride with a cool head,” concludes the INEOS Grenadiers rider.

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