Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[damian13ster]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I second what Serious Sam said.
Contador is excused from performing in any other races because he is riding 2 GTs.
Now who said that Nibali isn't having Tour as his first peak and then Vuelta/Lombardy as the second peak? The season doesn't end in july.
He has proven that he can win and entertain in those type of races (spring classics, etc.) while Contador, Froome, and many others haven't,
Nibali is already a legendary cyclist who has shown that he can be an all-rounder. Now if he wins this Tour against extremely strong opponents, that will only cement his legacy. It is really natural that he focuses primarily on that goal.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

You need to specify what other races he should target to win for that to be actually in Nibali's interest, as opposed to merely his entertainment deprived fans.

He has won every Grand Tour. He is the defending Tour Champ. If there is a time for a Tour only year, it is now. What if Contador, Quintana and Froome lose? Will their seasons be salvaged with the Ruta del Sol and a stage or two in minor stage races? No. Not winning the Tour would be just as big a failure but they still go all in for the Tour.

It does seem Nibali is held to different standard, having to target lesser races and be competitive in one day races where CQF routinely do **** all, just because he's shown some promise in that regard. When actually, his Grand Tour palmares are second only to Contador's.

He isn't held to a different standard. If AC or Froome performed as poorly in the spring as Nibbes, fans would be just as upset. Whatever, like I said earlier, maybe you'll think differently after the Tour.

 

[movingtarget]

If Nibali was not feeling good what was Scarponi attacking for ? Nibali still has time until the Tour, plenty of time.

 

[Kwibus]

Oh come on. Nibali just isn't the awesome rider with the huge cojones anymore.

Liked him more in 2013 and further back in time. I'm sure he will be great in the tdf and will ride with big cojones, but if he does that only in 1 race a year that's even worse then what Schleck used to do.

So my love for him is fading, but everytime I see him ride I still hope he will light the race up.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

You need to specify what other races he should target to win for that to be actually in Nibali's interest, as opposed to merely his entertainment deprived fans.

He has won every Grand Tour. He is the defending Tour Champ. If there is a time for a Tour only year, it is now. What if Contador, Quintana and Froome lose? Will their seasons be salvaged with the Ruta del Sol and a stage or two in minor stage races? No. Not winning the Tour would be just as big a failure but they still go all in for the Tour.

It does seem Nibali is held to different standard, having to target lesser races and be competitive in one day races where CQF routinely do **** all, just because he's shown some promise in that regard. When actually, his Grand Tour palmares are second only to Contador's.

C, Q and F showed a lot more than Nibali did this year so far.

 

[Mozart92]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

You need to specify what other races he should target to win for that to be actually in Nibali's interest, as opposed to merely his entertainment deprived fans.

He has won every Grand Tour. He is the defending Tour Champ. If there is a time for a Tour only year, it is now. What if Contador, Quintana and Froome lose? Will their seasons be salvaged with the Ruta del Sol and a stage or two in minor stage races? No. Not winning the Tour would be just as big a failure but they still go all in for the Tour.

It does seem Nibali is held to different standard, having to target lesser races and be competitive in one day races where CQF routinely do **** all, just because he's shown some promise in that regard. When actually, his Grand Tour palmares are second only to Contador's.

C, Q and F showed a lot more than Nibali did this year so far.

Yeah exactly like last year... This time it will be an interesting match with Q joining the triplet.

All of them have their weak and strong points, in my opinion

Nibali

+ Can attack everywhere (may it be cobbles or downhill)

- Suffers sudden changes of speed (Vrooooome) - He never beated the other three directly.

Froome

+ Killer acceleration + Extremely strong against the time

- No riding skill. Crashes a lot.

Contador

+ He is an extraordinary all-around rider. + He beated Froome during their last confrontation on a GT (Vuelta 2014)

- Since he's trying the Giro-Tour double his condition may not be perfect. The Giro has some dreadfull mountain stages and the fatigue might become a relevant factor.

Quintana

+ He proved that he can resist the best Froome (2013) + He's the youngest of all four

- He is the weakest oagainst the time.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Gazetta (paper version) reports Slongo saying Nibali has lost un chililetto (~ 1kg) since Romandie.
Probably lose another before TdF.
Slowly does it - unlike Aru.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Gazetta (paper version) reports Slongo saying Nibali has lost un chililetto (~ 1kg) since Romandie.
Probably lose another before TdF.
Slowly does it - unlike Aru.

No doubt about it. His problem is to get to the proper race weight, Lance used to say that 1 chilo plus means 1 minute more on a 10k climb, generally speaking.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Nibali and Scarponi perfecting the Astana train

for better res. see today's print edition of the Gazzetta

 

[cineteq]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

He never beated the other three directly

2014 TdF Stage 5 never took place

 

[bassano]

Re:

Btw no one is disputing that nibali will be beast again in the tour, i'm certain he will be. But it's so sad that he has become this rider who only peaks for one race.

3 years ago nibali was going crazy the entire year, it was fantastic. He also did that 2 years ago and now it's all gone.

I also must agree, I am enjoying to see Nibali in action, in 2013 he won tirreno, without problems Giro d italia, close to victory even on Vuelta and on world Championship in Italy he did exciting race with so good performance and now it is only about one race, last year at least somethink but this year no, hopefully next year will be much better, depends if he will be able to win tour again

 

[Netserk]

I partly hope he will finish outside the podium, so that he will go back to his old approach next year.

 

[Electress]

Re:

I partly hope he will finish outside the podium, so that he will go back to his old approach next year.

This.

I like Nibali, and whilst I understand as defending champion he is doing a Tour-only build up, on the whole I want riders to race across the whole season and take those races seriously. There's a difference between a peak in spring with a higher peak in July versus treating the whole pre-Tour as a protracted build up / training exercise. I'd prefer he went back to Nibali 1.0. I preferred him.

 

[SeriousSam]

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for him.

I'd say his '13 approach was quite good as well. It certainly got him more than just nothing, and if not for a crash, he would probably have stripes on his arms these days.

 

[Electress]

Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

His new approved oach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for him.

I'd say his '13 approach was quite good as well. It certainly got him more than just nothing, and, if not for a crash, he would probably have stripes on his arms these days.

I agree with Netserk. But I guess focusing on the Tour allows less scope to do other things, the Giro allows you to rest after and go for it at the end of the year too.

 

[jalep]

Re: Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

Happy to see you here again, Electress!

Just explained myself on the 'About Forum' thread. Had login issues.

Agree I do miss the old Lo Squalo I loved from the beginning watching him. But I doubt he has much freedom of choice at this point with Astana, as he did when he was at Cannondale.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

Happy to see you here again, Electress!

Just explained myself on the 'About Forum' thread. Had login issues.

Agree I do miss the old Lo Squalo I loved from the beginning watching him. But I doubt he has much freedom of choice at this point with Astana, as he did when he was at Cannondale.

welcome back piggonse ...just in time for tour

 

[jalep]

Re: Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

Happy to see you here again, Electress!

Just explained myself on the 'About Forum' thread. Had login issues.

Agree I do miss the old Lo Squalo I loved from the beginning watching him. But I doubt he has much freedom of choice at this point with Astana, as he did when he was at Cannondale.

welcome back piggonse ...just in time for tour

Thanks very much, ILoveCycling
Would have been here since the site changed if I could have. I tried. Loved the Giro! Celebrated with my own long bike ride and shared a bottle of champagne with a cyclist friend.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

Happy to see you here again, Electress!

Just explained myself on the 'About Forum' thread. Had login issues.

Agree I do miss the old Lo Squalo I loved from the beginning watching him. But I doubt he has much freedom of choice at this point with Astana, as he did when he was at Cannondale.

pignoose I missed you! Welcome back .

Lo Squalo will do us proud soon . Granted as of last year he has shown little early, but hopefully from July on he is on fire.

 

[SeriousSam]

I'm here to maybe win a stage, or see GC but also to find answers on where my level is. This is good for me, my team, my trainer, for everyone. We've showed today that we've had strength in the time trial.

"To think about my contenders I think that I would put Quintana, Froome, and Contador at the same level but I'm not afraid of anybody. The level at the Tour will be very high. Take the Giro, for example, where we saw Contador win but he didn't win a single stage."

You'll be pleased to learn that cyclingnews used the word "tranquilo" in their characterisation of these resposes.

Not quite sure what he means with that last sentence. What is that supposed to be an example of, how high the level will be at the Tour? Que?

 

[Electress]

Re: Re:

His new approach allowed him to reach a level he's never reached before. His old approach was good only for those who like him to animate races getting absolutely nothing to show for it.

The approach that allows him to reach Tdf2014 levels is the perfect approach for Nibali: A specialist Grand Tour racer.

Perhaps, but I'll probably like him less as a consequence.

Like he'd care about that.

Happy to see you here again, Electress!

Just explained myself on the 'About Forum' thread. Had login issues.

Agree I do miss the old Lo Squalo I loved from the beginning watching him. But I doubt he has much freedom of choice at this point with Astana, as he did when he was at Cannondale.

pignoose I missed you! Welcome back .

Lo Squalo will do us proud soon . Granted as of last year he has shown little early, but hopefully from July on he is on fire.

Hi there! Have to get used to your new handle!

I guess he probably does have no choice. It does sadden me, however, that the Tour is all for so many teams. I love the Tour, but this sort of focus just diminishes the rest of the races by comparison and does nothing for the sport in the long term. Whatever I think about Oleg, I think he's right that the average Joe wants to see the big guns race against one another in multiple races throughout the year when they are really trying to win.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

I'm here to maybe win a stage, or see GC but also to find answers on where my level is. This is good for me, my team, my trainer, for everyone. We've showed today that we've had strength in the time trial.

"To think about my contenders I think that I would put Quintana, Froome, and Contador at the same level but I'm not afraid of anybody. The level at the Tour will be very high. Take the Giro, for example, where we saw Contador win but he didn't win a single stage."

You'll be pleased to learn that cyclingnews used the word "tranquilo" in their characterisation of these resposes.

Not quite sure what he means with that last sentence. What is that supposed to be an example of, how high the level will be at the Tour? Que?

But what do you think he means by this quote which CN didn't mention:

"Quintana? Where is he? I've got no news of him.It's not a criticizing, It's a fact."

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

I'm here to maybe win a stage, or see GC but also to find answers on where my level is. This is good for me, my team, my trainer, for everyone. We've showed today that we've had strength in the time trial.

"To think about my contenders I think that I would put Quintana, Froome, and Contador at the same level but I'm not afraid of anybody. The level at the Tour will be very high. Take the Giro, for example, where we saw Contador win but he didn't win a single stage."

You'll be pleased to learn that cyclingnews used the word "tranquilo" in their characterisation of these resposes.

Not quite sure what he means with that last sentence. What is that supposed to be an example of, how high the level will be at the Tour? Que?

But what do you think he means by this quote which CN didn't mention:

"Quintana? Where is he? I've got no news of him.It's not a criticizing, It's a fact."

From where does that last quote originate?