Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[cellardoor]

Re:

Nibbs looking good and again - ahead of the competition I have no doubts that my man Vincenzo will perform superbly on this Tour & will up to the challenge to defend successfully his title

Jan Ullrich called it! He put 1+1 together and made 2 yet again.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Nibbs looking good and again - ahead of the competition I have no doubts that my man Vincenzo will perform superbly on this Tour & will up to the challenge to defend successfully his title

Jan Ullrich called it! He put 1+1 together and made 2 yet again.

He raced a few good years against Lance so he knows how monster peak once a year looks like.

 

[Miburo]

He's looking really good. I wonder what he can do on the mur. How is fuglsang btw?

 

[Carols]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Shark takes a nibble today, bigger bites to come!

 

[Squirbos_19]

Strong ride by Nibali today, he should be able to gain more time throughout this week on the other GC riders. His teammates are lookin really solid too. In the mountains Astana has to control Sky though. If Sky get their train going then beating Froome is going to be very difficult.

 

[FCKAC]

Re:

Bring on the TTT

22 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43
23 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
27 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
30 Rein Taaramae (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
45 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:00:57
58 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:01:02

126 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:26 - After Crashing..
128 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
131 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:28

Astana could win TTT.

 

[Punkan]

A nice statement by Nibali today! He is definately ready to defend. Expect him to be in shark mode the first week and give the other GC riders hell.

 

[SeriousSam]

Nibali haters are absolutely furious now. He's gained relative to Froome and Contador in terms of chance to win the Tour. He is now the third most likely rider to win, having overtaken Contador, according to the markets.

 

[the sceptic]

markets are severly underrating Nibali. His power output last year was not worse than Contador or Froome in recent years and now he just did the best ITT of his life. I can already smell the tears of skyfans.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

markets are severly underrating Nibali. His power output last year was not worse than Contador or Froome in recent years and now he just did the best ITT of his life. I can already smell the tears of skyfans.

On every poll i saw he was the least favorite to win it out of the big 4. Ridiculous

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

Nibali haters are absolutely furious now. He's gained relative to Froome and Contador in terms of chance to win the Tour. He is now the third most likely rider to win, having overtaken Contador, according to the markets.

Just shut up already about the gambling markets. No one cares about them except for you.

 

[PremierAndrew]

I said it after he stopped riding at the Dauphine - Nibbles was always going to be in top form at the Tour and extremely competitive. He'll be a lot better in the mountains than everyone thinks. Then again, I also expect him to be nowhere near as successful this year on the cobbles if they're dry as he was last year

 

[the sceptic]

Froome and Quintana will lose time on the cobbles for sure. Not sure about Contador, but he will probably have a bad day somewhere in the 3rd week.

Also, Astana will boss the TTT and have the strongest mountain train.

 

[Miburo]

They don't have the strongest mountain team.

I think fuglsang and scarponi will collapse

 

[SeriousSam]

Re: Re:

Nibali haters are absolutely furious now. He's gained relative to Froome and Contador in terms of chance to win the Tour. He is now the third most likely rider to win, having overtaken Contador, according to the markets.

Just shut up already about the gambling markets. No one cares about them except for you.

Your preference is duly noted, as it was the last time you told me, but I'll continue to post whatever I want, wherever I want.
-

Trending up overall!

 

[FCKAC]

Astana can take a minute against his main rivalry. Just hope Fulgsang will not crash again in TTT.

 

[Billie]

Re:

They don't have the strongest mountain team.

I think fuglsang and scarponi will collapse

Like all those other gt's where Scarponi collapsed.....?

 

[cellardoor]

Re: Re:

They don't have the strongest mountain team.

I think fuglsang and scarponi will collapse

Like all those other gt's where Scarponi collapsed.....?

He's not going to ride at the top level forever and he's getting on in years. He didn't look that great at the Dauphine.

 

[Punkan]

Re:

Froome and Quintana will lose time on the cobbles for sure. Not sure about Contador, but he will probably have a bad day somewhere in the 3rd week.

Also, Astana will boss the TTT and have the strongest mountain train.

TTT: Quintanas Movistar wont be bossed by Astana.
Mountains: Roche, Thomas, Köning, Porte, Poels can match Astans train.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Froome and Quintana will lose time on the cobbles for sure. Not sure about Contador, but he will probably have a bad day somewhere in the 3rd week.

Also, Astana will boss the TTT and have the strongest mountain train.

I think everyone says astana has such a strong team, only because of this years giro. The point is that astana wasn't incredibly strong, I think that the other teams were pretty weak. Astana definitely has a strong team but it isn't that much better than the other big gc teams

 

[Electress]

Re:

Bring on the TTT

22 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43
23 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
27 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
30 Rein Taaramae (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
45 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:00:57
58 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:01:02

126 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:26 - After Crashing..
128 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
131 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:28

Genuine question: but is it in anyway meaningful to look as these results wrt the TTT, because surely most of the riders in teams with real GC aspirations are going to be taking it relatively easy unless they have serious ITT stage winning aspirations? Unless perhaps they are local and want to make a good showing?

 

[FCKAC]

Re: Re:

Bring on the TTT

22 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:00:43
23 Lars Boom (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:44
27 Lieuwe Westra (Ned) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
30 Rein Taaramae (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:00:45
45 Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Astana Pro Team 0:00:57
58 Tanel Kangert (Est) Astana Pro Team 0:01:02

126 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:26 - After Crashing..
128 Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:01:27
131 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:01:28

Genuine question: but is it in anyway meaningful to look as these results wrt the TTT, because surely most of the riders in teams with real GC aspirations are going to be taking it relatively easy unless they have serious ITT stage winning aspirations? Unless perhaps they are local and want to make a good showing?

True but same thing could be said to Astana team. They are already so good when majority of them are taking it easy.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Froome and Quintana will lose time on the cobbles for sure. Not sure about Contador, but he will probably have a bad day somewhere in the 3rd week.

Also, Astana will boss the TTT and have the strongest mountain train.

I think everyone says astana has such a strong team, only because of this years giro. The point is that astana wasn't incredibly strong, I think that the other teams were pretty weak. Astana definitely has a strong team but it isn't that much better than the other big gc teams

I agree. Tinkov and Sky were very ordinary in the Giro but still the climbers they had in the Giro are stronger than the Tour team. This team has been based more around the TTT and other teams have done the same. On the final climb it's usually every man for himself anyway so they strengthen the TTT side of things instead. Scarponi is pretty hit and miss these days. With the top four being pretty evenly matched on paper, Nibali is probably hoping to make gains in the TTT and maybe the cobbled stage while Sky have not been doing very good TTTs of late. and Froome can't afford to lose much time on the cobbled stage and many see it as a difficult stage for him. TJVG might also make time in the TTT as the BMC squad looks pretty strong. Pinot and Contador could also lose time in the TTT. Movistar seem to have a pretty strong squad for Quintana.

I think Nibali would be more than happy with the opening stage result in reference to his rivals. It may not be much but it all counts especially if no one rider dominates in the mountains. I think bonuses are going to be very important this year as the race is expected to be close unlike the last Giro and previous Tour. But for the top four riders none of them have a good sprint so it does not really advantage any one of them but they will be hoping to drop Rodriguez and Valverde as they are the obvious riders to pick up bonuses if they can hang on. But I think both of those riders will be found out on the most difficult stages. Breakaways will probably also play a part in the time bonus situation and some of the second tier GC riders might get a bit more daring than usual.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

Froome and Quintana will lose time on the cobbles for sure. Not sure about Contador, but he will probably have a bad day somewhere in the 3rd week.

Also, Astana will boss the TTT and have the strongest mountain train.

I think everyone says astana has such a strong team, only because of this years giro. The point is that astana wasn't incredibly strong, I think that the other teams were pretty weak. Astana definitely has a strong team but it isn't that much better than the other big gc teams

I agree. Tinkov and Sky were very ordinary in the Giro but still the climbers they had in the Giro are stronger than the Tour team. This team has been based more around the TTT and other teams have done the same. On the final climb it's usually every man for himself anyway so they strengthen the TTT side of things instead. Scarponi is pretty hit and miss these days. With the top four being pretty evenly matched on paper, Nibali is probably hoping to make gains in the TTT and maybe the cobbled stage while Sky have not been doing very good TTTs of late. and Froome can't afford to lose much time on the cobbled stage and many see it as a difficult stage for him. TJVG might also make time in the TTT as the BMC squad looks pretty strong. Pinot and Contador could also lose time in the TTT. Movistar seem to have a pretty strong squad for Quintana.

I think Nibali would be more than happy with the opening stage result in reference to his rivals. It may not be much but it all counts especially if no one rider dominates in the mountains. I think bonuses are going to be very important this year as the race is expected to be close unlike the last Giro and previous Tour. But for the top four riders none of them have a good sprint so it does not really advantage any one of them but they will be hoping to drop Rodriguez and Valverde as they are the obvious riders to pick up bonuses if they can hang on. But I think both of those riders will be found out on the most difficult stages. Breakaways will probably also play a part in the time bonus situation and some of the second tier GC riders might get a bit more daring than usual.

Bonus sec is only for the first 8 stages, dropping purito and piti there is out of the question.

http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2015/us/sporting-stakes-rules.html

 

[whittashau]

Goodbye Tour De France? I say yes unless he can get back the time on the cobbles.