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Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

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cineteq

cineteq

May 20, 2009
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maxmartin said:
Basso showed today he is willing to do some domestique work, good news for Nibali;)
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Yes, he's walking the talk! :)

Sagan:
"Today I knew the sprinters wouldn't be there at the finish and it ended up with (Ivan) Basso and (Vincenzo) Nibali working for me! I would shine Basso's shoes if he asked, so I really can't say thank you enough to him."
 
maxmartin

maxmartin

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gustienordic said:
I think top 5 for sure, 1:00 back from Evans :)
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somehow I doubt Evans can produce a fantastic time on the first ITT, so I think the gap between Evnas and Nibali will be less than 1min:D. Just my 0.02.
 
cineteq

cineteq

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Cool Pic!

The most exciting rider there is with 2012 TdF winner
140rtr34mix.jpg
 
SafeBet

SafeBet

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After Dauphine I'd say it's very optimistic to say Nibali will lose less than two minutes to Wiggins in the ITT. Sure Nibs was far from top form back then, but still there's a huge difference between the two.

I have no idea of what to expect from Saturday's stage though.
 
Rechtschreibfehler

Rechtschreibfehler

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SafeBet said:
After Dauphine I'd say it's very optimistic to say Nibali will lose less than two minutes to Wiggins in the ITT. Sure Nibs was far from top form back then, but still there's a huge difference between the two.

I have no idea of what to expect from Saturday's stage though.
Click to expand...

Nibali's general problem in GTs , and I bet this has been mentioned before (didn't read a lot of the thread tbh), is that he doesn't have any strength except his downhill skills. He's OK for a contender in long TTs, but not good, and he's rather in a defensive position in the climbs as well.
I personally like him a lot as a rider, he's one of my favorites to be exact, but I don't see how he could win a Tour without improving massively in climbing or time trialing. Both I don't think will happen as he seems to have reached his peak. He's a bloody consistent rider though who knows what he can do an can't , which means he might have a chance if others fail.
Let's not forget he won his Vuelta against Mosquera, and it was rather a close deal. (43 seconds against Mosquera isn't a huge margin at all really)

Edit:
I actually have to add that in a TdF with two long time trials as a contender Nibali's ITT performances aren't OK but simply not enough to win it.
 
Timmy-loves-Rabo

Timmy-loves-Rabo

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SafeBet said:
After Dauphine I'd say it's very optimistic to say Nibali will lose less than two minutes to Wiggins in the ITT. Sure Nibs was far from top form back then, but still there's a huge difference between the two.

I have no idea of what to expect from Saturday's stage though.
Click to expand...

knowing the tour it will be a huge dissapointment, but maybe one or two of the GC men still in it will fail.
 
SafeBet

SafeBet

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Rechtschreibfehler said:
Nibali's general problem in GTs , and I bet this has been mentioned before (didn't read a lot of the thread tbh), is that he doesn't have any strength except his downhill skills. He's OK for a contender in long TTs, but not good, and he's rather in a defensive position in the climbs as well.
I personally like him a lot as a rider, he's one of my favorites to be exact, but I don't see how he could win a Tour without improving massively in climbing or time trialing. Both I don't think will happen as he seems to have reached his peak. He's a bloody consistent rider though who knows what he can do an can't , which means he might have a chance if others fail.
Let's not forget he won his Vuelta against Mosquera, and it was rather a close deal. (43 seconds against Mosquera isn't a huge margin at all really)

Edit:
I actually have to add that in a TdF with two long time trials as a contender Nibali's ITT performances aren't OK but simply not enough to win it.
Click to expand...
In general, I concur with what you say.
But the thing with Nibali is that he's always been able to surprise me. And in a way I still expect him to do it, though I try to keep my expectations as low as possible.

Timmy-loves-Rabo said:
knowing the tour it will be a huge dissapointment, but maybe one or two of the GC men still in it will fail.
Click to expand...
How many do you consider GC men? 5? 10? More?
 
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Jan the Man

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SafeBet said:
In general, I concur with what you say.
But the thing with Nibali is that he's always been able to surprise me. And in a way I still expect him to do it, though I try to keep my expectations as low as possible.


How many do you consider GC men? 5? 10? More?
Click to expand...

The tour is shaping up to be ideal for the likes of Wiggins, Evans, Menchov and Klöden. These are the best TTers of the GC guys and have stayed upright over the first week. Without Contador and Schleck I do not see enough explosive climbers to cause the diesels too much trouble.

Although i may be biased as my two pre-tour bets were each way on Menchov (33/1) and Klöden (100/1).
 
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You know, isn't it crazy that after only six days of racing, and only the first day relevant to GC, that we have "narrowed it down" to two contenders, Wig and Cad? Shouldn't the organizers have anticipated that we need a bit of GC excitement near the beginning to fire our interest? OK, I love the sprinters too, but, Damnit Man, throw us a bone to chew on. Let us worry about who could win the race.
Had they thrown in a stage like maybe Saturday's a bit earlier, a stage that maybe Sammy Sanchez or Nibali or Gesink could win, maybe we could have fretted all week about the GC picture instead of talking about how boring the race has been--a common topic on these and other boards, no?
 
maxmartin

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will10 said:
Step 1, decent prologue.
Step 2, survive week 1.

Tomorrow will be interesting.
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yep after next two days GC shape should give us a clear pic who is the real contender. A lot of people are already out of the door.
 
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