Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Gigs_98]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Nibalis Facebook post calms me a little bit down. Now I am even kind of sorry for him.
Anyone else here who will go straight to the transfer rumors thread?

 

[B_Ugli]

Agree with the comments about Nibali losing the plot a bit this year and he did break the rules after all same as Porte in the Giro.

However holding onto cars, sticky water bottles, hand slings, & pacing (mm's off a bumper) happen everyday in pro-cycling.
That's not to mention riding down the pavements, through level crossings and in and out of parked cars.

The rules need to be enforced consistently across all riders and races (both at the front and back of the race). The trend seems to be arbitrary enforcement of rules (to set an example) on superstars/favourites caught on camera (and circulated via social media) at the front of the race.

Note to the UCI - you can enforce the rules when people are not favourites and when its not splashed over social media.

 

[hrotha]

"The punishment was too much, everybody does it, this Ewan guy caused the crash by being reckless so I'm pointing fingers at him, and nobody waited which is very unsporting of my rivals although I'm going to throw in a 'this is racing' comment to tone down my own hypocrisy with the Tour in mind, oh and also my teammates hung me out to dry even though several of them clearly worked hard for me."

Nope, that didn't improve my current opinion of Nibali at all.

 

[Wattie]

Re:

Interesting to see how many people are relishing at what happened. Haters gonna hate. Ask JRanton for that...

I think what people are "relishing" is seeing a hypocrite exposed, rather than hating someone. Anyone who throws comments around like he did (regarding Froome in the 2010 Giro) has to be very careful that he lives up to the standards his comments set. He has manifestly failed to do so and people are (in my view quite rightly) pointing up the level of hypocrisy involved. I hope that privately Nibali is reflecting on the dangers of shooting your mouth off in public. His apology is weak at best and attempts to deflect his wrongdoing onto other people. He must know, as anyone who follows the sport knows, that a little bit of drafting or a little bit of sticky bottle is in no way the same as a team car towing you away from a group of riders at twice their speed. The director of the race was quite right to point out that he had never seen anything like; nor have I in over a quarter of a century watching the sport. I have never seen anything as blatant and flagrant as that; did he perhaps think that his status would make him immune from the sanctions? As to complaining about teams attacking him when he had crashed: well his previous conduct and comments are likely to lead to just such responses and in that respect he has reaped what he has sown. It should be noted that it was Movistar and Katusha doing most of the pulling and not Team Sky (who only showed at the front briefly).

 

[Wattie]

Re:

"The punishment was too much, everybody does it, this Ewan guy caused the crash by being reckless so I'm pointing fingers at him, and nobody waited which is very unsporting of my rivals although I'm going to throw in a 'this is racing' comment to tone down my own hypocrisy with the Tour in mind, oh and also my teammates hung me out to dry even though several of them clearly worked hard for me."

Nope, that didn't improve my current opinion of Nibali at all.

Spot on.

 

[del1962]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

He couldnt let a little dig on Froome/Sky escape. And thats why he´ll be missed:

“I chased back on to show that I’m not hurt and was fine until taking a 150 metre tow - a mistake that people are ready to throw mud at me for and attack me for. Yet nobody talks about the people who attacked when others crashed, about a lone chase against 18 attackers. No sir. In cycling the race is the race and nobody waits for you!!”

“There are lots of episodes like this in cycling and especially so after a crash!! I thought I’d get a fine and time penalty that would take me out of the overall classification. I’d have even accepted a ten-minute penalty. After all, I won’t be the first or last to do this kind of thing.”

“I apologise again if I’ve stolen your time and thanks for the support you may or may not give me. See you soon! Vince.”

As i wrote earlier there are some serious frustations brewing:

Nibali was angry and disappointed after the crash according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, blaming both Caleb Ewan and his Astana team. He was left waiting in the road for a new bike and suggested none of his teammates waited for him at the back of the peloton when he got back on.

“The crash was the fault of Caleb Ewan who did a crazy, aggressive move. Look at the video and you can understand why riders got hurt. Yet he’s still in the race,” Gazzetta dello Sport report Nibali as saying. “I went looking for him while I was waiting for a new bike but fortunately for him he’d already got going. I wanted to speak to him…”

After the crash Nibali was seen standing in the road waiting for a new bike, as most other riders quickly got going again.

“It’s fair to say that things didn’t go right. Everyone saw how long I had to wait,” he said.

“Everybody was shouting in the radio: Aru, Aru, Aru…. Did you see who eventually gave me a bike? Martinelli. And how much time passed before I could start chasing? I made a mistake but I would perhaps have gone home anyway. What was the point in staying?”

“As I said, I was left abandoned. Even if I was feeling good. I was hoping to get through the first week without losing a lot of time. It’s frustrating that I’m going home without being able to demonstrate anything. But I’ve got to keep my mouth shut.” ]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/nibali-left-abandoned-by-astana-at-vuelta-a-espana/

If he is blaming the crash on Ewan it was probably someone completely different that caused it.

 

[vedrafjord]

He deserved to be disqualified but I still feel sorry for him. Is there any other team that would treat someone who'd won so much for them like absolute dirt?

 

[cineteq]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Oh no Vincenzo, what you've done? Embarassing for the sport. Yet his apology was spot on. Caleb should have been thrown out or whoever caused the crash. This incident will definitely curb riders trying to cheat this way. I wonder if Cav will ever finish a GT...

Edit: I hope this is the end with Astana

 

[The Principal Sheep]

Re: Re:

I think what people are "relishing" is seeing a hypocrite exposed, rather than hating someone. Anyone who throws comments around like he did (regarding Froome in the 2010 Giro) has to be very careful that he lives up to the standards his comments set. He has manifestly failed to do so and people are (in my view quite rightly) pointing up the level of hypocrisy involved. I hope that privately Nibali is reflecting on the dangers of shooting your mouth off in public. His apology is weak at best and attempts to deflect his wrongdoing onto other people. He must know, as anyone who follows the sport knows, that a little bit of drafting or a little bit of sticky bottle is in no way the same as a team car towing you away from a group of riders at twice their speed. The director of the race was quite right to point out that he had never seen anything like; nor have I in over a quarter of a century watching the sport. I have never seen anything as blatant and flagrant as that; did he perhaps think that his status would make him immune from the sanctions? As to complaining about teams attacking him when he had crashed: well his previous conduct and comments are likely to lead to just such responses and in that respect he has reaped what he has sown. It should be noted that it was Movistar and Katusha doing most of the pulling and not Team Sky (who only showed at the front briefly).

It is also amusing to see some relishing Nibali's hypocrisy whilst completely ignorant of their own.

 

[Wattie]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

If he is blaming the crash on Ewan it was probably someone completely different that caused it.

Indeed it would appear so.

Brian Nygaard ‏@nygaardbn 4m4 minutes ago
Nibali: you not only got the rules wrong, but also the facts. Caleb Ewan was getting bottles when it happened. He did not cause the crash.

His Nibs is not coming out of this very well at all.

 

[jsem94]

Oh boy... what a clusterxxx...

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Astana is a team of clowns and cheaters, a true champion like Vincenzo will have no problem finding a suitable team for next year.
His words show again he is a class rider. Meanwhile, the Kazakhs are going to be silenced for the second time in just one season, wonderboy Aru does not stand a chance against the oposition.
I will renounce my claim to the Iron Throne when Fabio Aru will win a Grand Tour

 

[Miburo]

Maybe he did it on purpose, he was forced to ride this anyways

 

[Carols]

Wow the once sane and tranquillo Nibs has gone bonkers! Get out of Astana ASAP, Vince. Obviously he was really pissed. He stood there for ages while Aru was tended to and sent on his way. He did wrong, he admits it, but he needs to find peace somewhere away from Astana!

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Maybe he did it on purpose, he was forced to ride this anyways

I'm starting to think the same. A middle finger to Vino. I mean it was so blatant one can only speculate. On the other hand what was going through Shefer's mind doing a "Schumi" F1 acceleration? Another thing is that playing second fiddle to this Aru boy who'll get his *** kicked so hard this Vuelta he'll remember it for long, was obviously not easy to swallow and he just lost it.

 

[No_Balls]

Re:

I dont know but i have a feeling Nibali was forced to ride Vuelta just to be public punished, kind of like Alberto at the same team in TDF 2009, with their clear preference of Aru. Him and Fabio riding together was not a good idea to begin with. We even saw signs of this in the Tour with Vinos ridicoulus statements.

The reason why could be discussed but i´m thinking of it as a way to have him off the contract as soon as possible. He realised early he would not only play second fiddle in the team but had to wait for a bike, got pissed and took a deliberate action to become DSQ´ed. At least he hints this in the anger.

He will not stay in this team for long.

 

[huge]

Re:

Wow the once sane and tranquillo Nibs has gone bonkers! Get out of Astana ASAP, Vince. Obviously he was really pissed. He stood there for ages while Aru was tended to and sent on his way. He did wrong, he admits it, but he needs to find peace somewhere away from Astana!

No surprise that he was mad at his team. How on Earth can you leave someone standing in the middle of the road for that long? Never seen anything like that with a GC rider. The team car must have stopped at a nearby petrol station... you know, long journey.

 

[Kwibus]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Oh no Vincenzo, what you've done? Embarassing for the sport. Yet his apology was spot on. Caleb should have been thrown out or whoever caused the crash. This incident will definitely curb riders trying to cheat this way. I wonder if Cav will ever finish a GT...

Edit: I hope this is the end with Astana

Just like Nibali did something that happens a lot, Ewan did something that has happened lots of times as well. I'm sure Ewan regrets causing such a huge pile up and has his lesson learned. If were going to kick out every rider that causes a crash there will be a lot of DQ's.

 

[Kwibus]

Re:

Wow the once sane and tranquillo Nibs has gone bonkers! Get out of Astana ASAP, Vince. Obviously he was really pissed. He stood there for ages while Aru was tended to and sent on his way. He did wrong, he admits it, but he needs to find peace somewhere away from Astana!

This.

 

[IndianCyclist]

The pressures about being the TDF defending champ have gone to his head. Similar to Wiggins
Dropped by Griepel in MSR cannot be good for him.
Blaming Vanotti for Italian Championship.
Blaming Froome for Martin Crash
Wilting on the first Mountain stage in TDF
Carefully attacking when Froome is not present.
Getting into a mud slinging match with Froome.
Taking a tow in Vuelta & blaming Ewan for the crash and complaining that no one waited for him.
His team could not close in the gap in Stage 2 of 2GTs when it is considered to be one of the strongest teams.
I think Vino got it right, There is something wrong with his head at least for this season. This guy is no longer tranquilo.

 

[bassano]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Just like Nibali did something that happens a lot, Ewan did something that has happened lots of times as well. I'm sure Ewan regrets causing such a huge pile up and has his lesson learned. If were going to kick out every rider that causes a crash there will be a lot of DQ's.

Of course but there should be some limit of that, if everyone will start to ride like pig, e.g. cavendish in tour 2014, even martin this year, there will be too much crashes and injuries, in my opinion they should start with punishments for hazardous moves causing crashes as well

 

[afpm90]

Re:

Astana is a team of clowns and cheaters, a true champion like Vincenzo will have no problem finding a suitable team for next year.
His words show again he is a class rider. Meanwhile, the Kazakhs are going to be silenced for the second time in just one season, wonderboy Aru does not stand a chance against the oposition.
I will renounce my claim to the Iron Throne when Fabio Aru will win a Grand Tour

Where does his words show he's a class rider? If anything they show the complete opposite. Threatening Caleb Ewan for causing the crash, attacking his team in public and moaning about the other teams not waiting for him... all this shows a lack of class.

 

[cineteq]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Those saying "he did it on purpose" or "he has no class" don't know what's Nibali all about.

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Those saying "he did it on purpose" or "he has no class" don't know what's Nibali all about.

Exactly. Some of them are Dawg fans infuriated about the supposed bottle incident or chaingate. How could someone dare to challenge the "best cyclist in history" ?

 

[PremierAndrew]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Those saying "he did it on purpose" or "he has no class" don't know what's Nibali all about.

Exactly. Some of them are Dawg fans infuriated about the supposed bottle incident or chaingate. How could someone dare to challenge the "best cyclist in history" ?

Except there are like 5 'Dawg fans' on this part of the forum...