Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[A.S.]

Is he injured from his crash, he was great on stage 1, pulled hard in the 2nd group on stage 2, did well on the cobbles, now after the crash he looses 10 seconds & now today, that or last winter really wore him down with the extra work being the tour winner and the Astana problems.

 

[whittashau]

This might sound lame, but perhaps not having Vanotti as his teammate/roommate has played a part too. They have basically ridden every race together for years. Sometimes have a constant is very important.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Fuglsang almost made it all the way back up to Contador once he was allowed freedom by Nibali. He has sneaky good form by the look of it. I think it is tough to dig deep when you mentally know that you don't physically have the legs. Whether that is due to the crash, bad preparation, or a combination of both, we will never know.

 

[sir fly]

Re:

Fuglsang almost made it all the way back up to Contador once he was allowed freedom by Nibali. He has sneaky good form by the look of it. I think it is tough to dig deep when you mentally know that you don't physically have the legs. Whether that is due to the crash, bad preparation, or a combination of both, we will never know.

Less than two minutes between them in the GC.
Unless Nibali doesn't pull out of the race, Fuglsang won't get the freedom, I suppose.
The decision regarding their GT goals this season has to be made quickly.
Joint leadership with Aru is inevitable for Vuelta.

 

[IndianCyclist]

This answers the question about who is better after 2014 tdf

 

[Scarponi]

Everything is mental IMO. Physically I am not saying he was going to match Froome but mentally I have gone on 8km rides and wanted to get off the bike and walk home.

 

[whittashau]

Does make you wonder why Slongo and Scarponi were talking up Nibali's shape coming into the Tour. Although, he did look really good in the first few stages. Maybe it's simply that he thought he would gain time on Froome and co in the first week, or at least be on par, and when he found himself so far behind he stopped believing in himself. Especially now that he is accustomed to winning in grand tours, must be hard to be motivated if he feels he can't win

 

[yaco]

Astana will bounce back in next years TDF. Imagine that Uran will be entrusted with the leaders jersey.

 

[Pippo_San]

Mental or not...who cares.

Nibali WC 2015.
Nuff said.

 

[whittashau]

Have you seen the world's course? Definitely not

 

[Pippo_San]

Re:

Have you seen the world's course? Definitely not

It's not for sprinters. That's already enough for Nibbles.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

was afraid this might happen. Have been illness in the AStana camp, might be an explanation for at least some of this

 

[barmaher]

I read elsewhere that Vino has decided Fuglsang is Astana's leader for the remainder of the race.

 

[No_Balls]

Re:

Does make you wonder why Slongo and Scarponi were talking up Nibali's shape coming into the Tour. Although, he did look really good in the first few stages. Maybe it's simply that he thought he would gain time on Froome and co in the first week, or at least be on par, and when he found himself so far behind he stopped believing in himself. Especially now that he is accustomed to winning in grand tours, must be hard to be motivated if he feels he can't win

It is highly demoralising seeing Froome/Sky in this kind of "form" and i understand that. Let alone catching the nearly two minutes that he was supposed to have gained on him the first week.

For Nibali only victories counts and i thought he gave up mentally. Free'd himself from the pressure and start target next objective.

What a sad, shameful, disgusting day this was.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re:

Very bad form, he messed up the prep. Not that it would've matter much in this tour. Froomestrong is unbeatable by any mortal.

Yet his climb today was 6.09 w/kg, the exact same as your boy Nibali up Hautacam last year: and that wasn't the first mountain stage of the Tour.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

Does make you wonder why Slongo and Scarponi were talking up Nibali's shape coming into the Tour. Although, he did look really good in the first few stages. Maybe it's simply that he thought he would gain time on Froome and co in the first week, or at least be on par, and when he found himself so far behind he stopped believing in himself. Especially now that he is accustomed to winning in grand tours, must be hard to be motivated if he feels he can't win

It is highly demoralising seeing Froome/Sky in this kind of "form" and i understand that. Let alone catching the nearly two minutes that he was supposed to have gained on him the first week.

For Nibali only victories counts and i thought he gave up mentally. Free'd himself from the pressure and start target next objective.

What a sad, shameful, disgusting day this was.

Get a grip.

 

[whittashau]

Re: Re:

Very bad form, he messed up the prep. Not that it would've matter much in this tour. Froomestrong is unbeatable by any mortal.

Yet his climb today was 6.09 w/kg, the exact same as your boy Nibali up Hautacam last year: and that wasn't the first mountain stage of the Tour.

But but but, Nibali only won last year because he had *** competition.

 

[Poursuivant]

Re: Re:

Very bad form, he messed up the prep. Not that it would've matter much in this tour. Froomestrong is unbeatable by any mortal.

Yet his climb today was 6.09 w/kg, the exact same as your boy Nibali up Hautacam last year: and that wasn't the first mountain stage of the Tour.

But but but, Nibali only won last year because he had **** competition.

I noticed people saying that in the stage thread: he's obviously in horrible form for whatever reason, he was riding like he did in the Dauphine today.

He will try something on a descent somewhere I think

 

[markene2]

Re:

I read elsewhere that Vino has decided Fuglsang is Astana's leader for the remainder of the race.

I can confirm this. They are gunning for a top 5 now with Fuglsang

 

[Psalmon]

When we heard Nibali say before the Tour, "Winning another Tour is not an obsession with me.", well that said a LOT.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

He should get sick and go get ready for the Vuelta to save his season......

So that everybody sees he's a worse climber than Aru & Landa? Bad idea.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I think I just was too optimistic. I always thought that at the end he will be pretty strong and that mur de bretagne was just a bad day, because the situation of a bad prerace nibali was so similar to last year.

 

[Jspear]

Re: Re:

Have you seen the world's course? Definitely not

It's not for sprinters. That's already enough for Nibbles.

It's for strongmen who are fast. Nibbes doesn't fit the profile. Think Sagan, Matthews, Degenkolb, ect. Nibbes won't win the worlds.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I hope we will never see Nibali doing the 100% Tour focus plan again.
Only Worlds and GdL can save his season.

 

[SafeBet]

Birdsong in an interview said he felt that Nibali cracked mentally.

He might have a point. Simply put too much pressure on himself to perform at the Tour

He put himself in this hole by choosing to repeat his super peak approach. No results for the whole season, some bad luck in the first week, maybe not 100% physically, pressure is gonna come even for Nibbles. For years we've been told he can handle any kind of tough situation, sleep well, and then deliver results. Well we can safely drop the narrative now, he's human too.

What a total collpase this was. Probably unprecedented in more than a decade of his pro career.
I tried to go back and find the last time he dropped from 20+ riders on a MTF of a GT. Hard to find. Maybe 2008. That's surely the last time he lost more than 4 minutes to the top GC guy on a MTF of a GT.

And to whoever thinks he should get the leadership in the Vuelta, please no. Aru and Landa deserve the leadership. Nibali must stay in the Tour, unless he's sick. Ride through the difficult times. Attack and win a couple of stages. That's what a champion does. It's way to easy to say you're mentally strong when everything goes right, I wanna see it now.

Forza Squalo.