Nibali's Potential

[ludwig]

Of the young riders Nibali has progressed the furthest in recent years.

He was nearly as strong as Basso at the Giro, possibly stronger. And now he's in a great position at the Vuelta.

Is there more room for improvement?

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Of the young riders Nibali has progressed the furthest in recent years.

He was nearly as strong as Basso at the Giro, possibly stronger. And now he's in a great position at the Vuelta.

Is there more room for improvement?

nah, the difference on the climbs (especially the steep climbs) was evident. Nibali is a better all round rider though.

 

[DAOTEC]

Has Niba won the Vuelta then already ?

Pello is a much better climber though !

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

he has improved alot at climbing since turning pro but his itt seems to be getting worse with the day

 

[DAOTEC]

Can Ezequiel Mosquera still win the Vuelta against Nibali ?

Result ITT
1 179 P._Velits 52:43
2 157 Menchov + 12
3 202 Cancellara + 37
4 206 Larsson + 50
5 58 L._L._Sánchez + 1:03
6 135 Hoste + 1:07
7 109 Zabriskie + 1:10
8 141 Barredo + 1:14
9 134 Gilbert + 1:24
10 105 Millar + 1:27
11 9 Tondo + 1:29
12 186 Karpets + 1:46
13 8 Sastre + 1:47
14 101 Danielson + 1:53

15 126 Nibali + 1:54

16 49 Vogondy + 1:59
17 156 Niermann + 2:01
18 184 Gusev + 2:01

19 211 Mosquera + 2:13

20 55 López + 2:14

Mosquera now 37 seconds behind Nibali in GC !

General:
1 Vincenzo NIBALI LIQ 71:19:49

2 Ezequiel MOSQUERA MIGUEZ XAC 37

3 Peter VELITS THR +1:58
4 Frank SCHLECK SAX +3:42
5 Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER KAT +3:45
6 Xavier TONDO VOLPINI CTT +3:45
7 Thomas DANIELSON GRM +3:53
8 Nicolas ROCHE ALM +4:01
9 Carlos SASTRE CANDIL CTT +4:11
10 Luis Leon SANCHEZ GIL GCE +5:41

 

[theswordsman]

I think Nibali is proving, like he said, that he can be in the mix with Contador and Schlecklet. He wasn't trained for the Giro, hadn't done course recon, etc. because he was scheduled for the Tour of California and planning to peak for the Tour de France. His training and racing would have been different if the Giro was a goal.

 

[ingsve]

I think Nibali still has room to improve. I think the main thing that will determine his palmares is what races he will focus on. If he avoids only butting his head against Contador in the Tour then he will certainly be as good as Menchov in terms of GT finishes if not better.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Pello is a much better climber though !

And we all know why....
I think Nibali can win this Vuelta, after seeing the results of the time trial. If he has more potential...I don't think he can win the Tour. But certainly he will be a very dangerous GT contender over the coming years.

 

[whittashau]

he has improved alot at climbing since turning pro but his itt seems to be getting worse with the day

I think the wheel change probably cost him 25-35 seconds today. If you take that into account he is on the edge of the top 10 .Pretty good imo. Plus I think his speciality is the technical sections of time trials more so than anything. I think he'll be a regular top 5 finisher at GTs from now on.

 

[TheDude]

If not for the lousy wheel change, Nibali would have locked up his overall win today. Mosquera is a strong threat, his climbing has been better than Nibali's and wearing red will put the Liqui-boys on defense the rest of the week. As they say, the race is just now hoting up.

 

[rhubroma]

Nibali has definitly matured especially over the past two seasons. However, doping aside, the Italian hope for GTs is the rider most do not like: that is The Cobra.

 

[El Pistolero]

I hope Il Cobra learns him a thing or two in the Giro next year. I don't care if he doped, at least he attacks and his arrogance spices things up. I really hope he gets invited because there's no way in hell that Nibali can ever outclimb Ricco.

 

[slightlytarnished]

Did anyone else spot that Nibali lost his bottle at the tire change and then suddenly had one a few minutes later? I guess his car gave him another but surely that is against the rules and maybe he will be penalised?

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think Nibali is proving, like he said, that he can be in the mix with Contador and Schlecklet. He wasn't trained for the Giro, hadn't done course recon, etc. because he was scheduled for the Tour of California and planning to peak for the Tour de France. His training and racing would have been different if the Giro was a goal.

this was a myth all along. liguigas knew from late march that pellizotti had difficultys with bloodvalues so they unannounced put nibali for the giro squad.

 

[whittashau]

this was a myth all along. liguigas knew from late march that pellizotti had difficultys with bloodvalues so they unannounced put nibali for the giro squad.

I guess that's why he was home in Sicily training with the mafia then before the giro.

 

[The Hitch]

I think the wheel change probably cost him 25-35 seconds today. If you take that into account he is on the edge of the top 10 .Pretty good imo. Plus I think his speciality is the technical sections of time trials more so than anything. I think he'll be a regular top 5 finisher at GTs from now on.

The wheel change cost him about 20 seconds but he gained a 16 second head start in the ttt over Mosquera so its almost cancels itself out.

 

[Oldman]

I think the wheel change probably cost him 25-35 seconds today. If you take that into account he is on the edge of the top 10 .Pretty good imo. Plus I think his speciality is the technical sections of time trials more so than anything. I think he'll be a regular top 5 finisher at GTs from now on.

He's still a long way from the ITT performance level to take on the serious Giro and Tour contenders. Now that he's a known factor he will find less freedom in those venues. That, and his team may suffer from eventual UCI scrutiny; they've been flying all year.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

I hope Il Cobra learns him a thing or two in the Giro next year. I don't care if he doped, at least he attacks and his arrogance spices things up. I really hope he gets invited because there's no way in hell that Nibali can ever outclimb Ricco.

It will be an amazing battle, that's for sure. But Ricco needs to spice up his TT to, not just his arrogance. While he has to pray that Vacansoleil will get an invite...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think Nibali is proving, like he said, that he can be in the mix with Contador and Schlecklet. He wasn't trained for the Giro, hadn't done course recon, etc. because he was scheduled for the Tour of California and planning to peak for the Tour de France. His training and racing would have been different if the Giro was a goal.

No way in 1000 years
The guy is struggling to beat Mosquera, could never in a 1000 years follow Anton, and Rodriguez was vastly superior in the mountains as well. And his time trial is decent, but not superb. Again in the 10-15 place region today.

There are a couple of more guys then Contador and Andy Schleck that would beat Nibali in the Tour at his current level. He'd have to progress a lot for next year if he wants to podium in the Tour. At the moment I can't see him better than a top 10 placing (like his 7th one in 2009)

 

[quadsRme]

No way in 1000 years
The guy is struggling to beat Mosquera, could never in a 1000 years follow Anton, and Rodriguez was vastly superior in the mountains as well. And his time trial is decent, but not superb. Again in the 10-15 place region today.

There are a couple of more guys then Contador and Andy Schleck that would beat Nibali in the Tour at his current level. He'd have to progress a lot for next year if he wants to podium in the Tour. At the moment I can't see him better than a top 10 placing (like his 7th one in 2009)

I can agree with most of DT's opinion. I still think that next year will be his make or break year. He needs to kick it up a few notches to be a podium guy in any more GT's.
He is still young but just doesn't seem to have that pop like Contador and Schleck have in the mountains.

 

[lostincosmos]

He is still young but just doesn't seem to have that pop like Contador and Schleck have in the mountains.

totally agree, of course.
but not sure comparing anybody to those two is worthwhile. they are simply a step above. i think nibali will be one of those guys who's around and dangerous, but will have to be extremely smart in picking his moments to go for wins. and then hope menchov falls off his bike, schleck forgets how to shift, and contador shows up unprepared and out of shape

 

[hrotha]

I'll wait till he stagnates before trying to guess what his limit is.