Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[peloton]

He lost 10 seconds today, on a clearly bad day, that's nothing. he can gain minutes on some of the looming downhills (if he's not injured that is)

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

He lost 10 seconds today, on a clearly bad day, that's nothing. he can gain minutes on some of the looming downhills (if he's not injured that is)

There is only one real chance afaik.

I hope Nibs is OK and its not a result of that crash, would be good for the race if Astana will be better than Sky and Saxo tomoroz.

 

[peloton]

Re: Re:

He lost 10 seconds today, on a clearly bad day, that's nothing. he can gain minutes on some of the looming downhills (if he's not injured that is)

There is only one real chance afaik.

I hope Nibs is OK and its not a result of that crash, would be good for the race if Astana will be better than Sky and Saxo tomoroz.

Every downhill is a chance, but esp. st 18

 

[Brullnux]

I said earlier in the race thread for the Le Havre stage, a fall like that takes three or four days to recover from. He'll struggle tomorrow, less than today mind you, and then has a rest day before a stage that was basically designed for Froome that AC, NQ, TJ, VN will lose at least 20 seconds in because all of them prefer climbs before the final one, except Froome. He likes it _____/. I hope today was just the crash and not bad form.

 

[TI-Raleigh]

Today could be meaningless (I hope it is), but is still a cause for concern. Either way, today's performance does nothing to shout down the critics who say he can't climb with the big boys.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Really surprised today.
Everybody is calling it a bad day, but I believe there is more to it. He is not in top shape, and he knows it. That's why he's been so nervous this firsat week. Unusual for him. I hope he can prove me wrong on Tue, but I don't think I am. Nibali's Tour will come to an end on Tue afternoon.

Until today he looked the strongest after Froome of all the contenders. He missed that damn decisive split in stage 2 thanks to misfortune and a non existent team and that's all there was regarding time gaps. Tomorrow is an important day.

 

[Jelantik]

A little surprise with Nibali today. But he said that he had a bad day. Well at least if he had already exercised his bad day now, he won't have another one on the big climb. (well maybe lol). Nothing to worry yet, tour is still 2 weeks. He seems to be under a lot more pressure now. Good news, Astana is a strong team for TTT. At Dauphine, they only lost 4 seconds to BMC. That would be his chance to forget today's stage.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

I rewatched the final climb. Nibali actually survived the steep part in front, within the best 10. And was still there until 700m to go. When Vuillermoz and then Froome accelerated he suddenly came to a halt on the flatter, late part of the climb. Looks like he had blown himself into red to follow on the steep section and then had nothing left in the final 600m..

contador said in his interview .. he saw Nibali blew himself.. Probably much like Nibali saw the same thing with Contador in Mur

 

[Electress]

I think Nibali is putting himself (or has been put) under so much pressure that he's probably pretty tense all the time. It cannot be good for form or confidence. If they put in a good TTT, and then the rest day, I reckon he could come out on all cylinders. But I think things haven't been quite right for the build up, whatever has been said. Probably the politics in Astana doing him no favours.

I do hope he is okay - it could be such fun in the mountains if he and Alberto are attacking all over the place.

 

[cineteq]

Re: Re:

Must have been a hunger knock. Outside of the effects of the crash, which didn't seem to hamper him all day, I can't think of any other reason.

Hopefully he got it out of his system, and he'll be firing on all cylinders Tuesday.

That was exactly what it looked like. With less that 1Km to go he was well positioned and then he hit a the Mûr.

 

[peloton]

Re:

I think Nibali is putting himself (or has been put) under so much pressure that he's probably pretty tense all the time. It cannot be good for form or confidence. If they put in a good TTT, and then the rest day, I reckon he could come out on all cylinders. But I think things haven't been quite right for the build up, whatever has been said. Probably the politics in Astana doing him no favours.

I do hope he is okay - it could be such fun in the mountains if he and Alberto are attacking all over the place.

Funny, to me it seemed the opposite, he has looked relaxed and not obsessing his team to be at the front all day on every stage. Bouhanni cost him the biggest time loss so far.
If he's not injured, he will attack on every descent Vai

 

[movingtarget]

If you lose 10 seconds on a bad day that it pretty good. But if he loses more time in the TTT then it has just added to his problems.

 

[whittashau]

Absolutely nothing going right for him. The TTT isn't finished, but it's clear to me that he's going to lose time on all his main rivals already

 

[Marco Pantani]

Attacking mode. Should be good for anyone but Froome.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Tuesday will be the real telling. If he got out climb by TJ or bleeding more time again... then he should just go banana, and go attack on the descent.

 

[Eclipse]

Another bad day for Nibbles

Oh well, if it gets worse in the Pyrenees it'll be time to throw caution to the wind and make stuff happen so there's always that to look forward to

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think he is without chance. I don't see him finishing top 3

 

[Miburo]

I think you guys are writing him off too quickly. If he has that monstershape form 2014 (i think yesterday was a bad day, he had one too last year), then many things are possible.

Hang on tuesday and then it's time to attack

 

[ray j willings]

Nibs has never climbed with the best . He has yet to prove himself against the likes of Bertie etc. in the mountains. Horner was to good for him.
Nibs chances of winning will rely on taking big chances. He will have to attack early and most likely on more than one stage to bring the time needed back and then he will have to at some point match the very best in the mountains
I would love to see him do it ,,it would be a bit like memories of Landis but for me ....................................................................

He's fu££ed

 

[Miburo]

Comparing him with horner is unfair, how many guys are still in the same shape they had in the giro as in the vuelta?

 

[Rollthedice]

There are still chances albeit much less than at the beginning. He looks strong, hopefully the bad day is behind now. Problem is the team failed big time, in the crosswinds and today, that's 2 minutes. Until proven wrong I don't think he is not competitive against the other big three in the mountains.

 

[ray j willings]

Re:

Comparing him with horner is unfair, how many guys are still in the same shape they had in the giro as in the vuelta?

I see your point, but do you think if Bertie of Froome or Quintana was in that race, Horner would have beaten them? I don't think so.
If Nibs win's this tour it will be incredible and we would have witnessed perhaps the most stunning victory ever and I would love to see it
Don't get me wrong ,I am a Nibs fan and he looked fantastic last year but now he has real competition I want him to step up. So far in his career Bertie ,Froome etc have been to good. I am not convinced he can compete with those guys...I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[hfer07]

Well- lets say thing have not gone his way,to say the least. perhaps the only positive aspect of this first week is that Nibbs has already gone through his usual "one day off", so then he and his crew can concentrate fully to the task ahead.

Good Luck

 

[Miburo]

Horner would have beat Contador for sure, we're talking about 2013 after all

 

[orangerider]

Nibali seems to be riding at the same level as last year more or less. The main difference is that everyone else in the race is better than him this time around. Shows what a fluke it was in 2014.