Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Pippo_San]

How can you call such a year except a very bad year? Absolutely nothing went the right way, and it's clear as hell he's not tranquillo anymore.
Yet, nothing's better to repair such a dire situation than victories!
IMO he should EITHER focus his rage on winning Québec/Montreal and then maybe challenge for the Worlds (not a great 'course for him, but you never know), OR get home, rest, format his head and think about 2016, and start winning EARLY on in the season.

 

[kenk09]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Is he allowed to ride the Canadian races? Not sure how it works with DQ from a race rather than pulling out of one.

 

[TheDuke]

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.

I just checked the Velon front on video of the crash (on youtube), if you stop at 1min40secs, where you can see Tanner hitting the deck, just to the left is Caleb Ewan, looks to be nowhere near to route cause. Looks like Nibs, will have to go back and take a look at the clips himself....

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Nibali seems to have a habit of accusing other rider without getting the fact straight. So he either annoyed of something or the fact that this year isn't his year.

He got held by the crash.. hm, i guess karma is following him around after the incident with froome's mechanical. Getting expelled from Vuelta.. boy, he is kinda of starting to go down hill. He'd better do something on the world to save his season. Of just like contador .. called it quit and get back next season with a clean slate.

ps. I wonder if he is going to TS (oleg has been very cozy with him)

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

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.

maybe winning TDF has made his head so big. He thinks that he is the patron of the peloton . God knows.. he is a little hot head ... blaming anyone without getting the fact straight. He is turning into a diva..

 

[Afrank]

Oh Vincenzo, what are you doing to yourself? This should have been a simple apology, acknowledge what you did wasn't right, express that you regret it, make sure you don't do it again. Simple.

This is definitely not his year.

 

[dpm1991]

Re: Re:

maybe winning TDF has made his head so big. He thinks that he is the patron of the peloton . God knows.. he is a little hot head ... blaming anyone without getting the fact straight. He is turning into a diva..

If i remember he was behaving like a diva back to at least 2011. It was a shocker for me that they decided for such a dangerous stunt in a highly caughtable situation. You don't do such drags when there's a high propability of being caught on camera. If you want such a drag then you must to make sure that nobody sees you and nobody will suspect you afterwards.

 

[BigMac]

He's just frustrated, I'd be too if I was him, regardless of being in the wrong or in the right.

Despite agreeing that it was a good decision to throw him out of the race, I think he's taking too much of the blame that, in my opinion, should be placed on Alexandrer Shefer (and that gentleman seating next to him) above all. Nibali isn't stupid, I very much doubt he'd be holding to that car if he knew his DS would make such a ridiculous accelaration, but letting it go would be too dangerous. I'm not making up excuses for him, and Nibali hasn't brought this up, but I think the astonishing majority of the blame belongs to who was in charge of that team car.

The remaining culprit is Vino, for increasing and even establishing a bigger cult of prepotency and arrogance inside that team.

 

[Pippo_San]

Right after the fall[out]
Circled is Diego Rosa putting Nibbles back on his feet who looks like was one of the first to fall.

 

[fungusbear]

Disappointed by Nibali's conduct in both this race and in the Tour. I think he has been more irritated by Astana/pressure of being defending tour champion/injury than we all thought and I think he needs to finish the season now and get his head sorted for 2016. Leaving Astana may be a good option, and certainly if Bertie retires in 2016 TS would welcome him with open arms.

 

[Carols]

Re:

Disappointed by Nibali's conduct in both this race and in the Tour. I think he has been more irritated by Astana/pressure of being defending tour champion/injury than we all thought and I think he needs to finish the season now and get his head sorted for 2016. Leaving Astana may be a good option, and certainly if Bertie retires in 2016 TS would welcome him with open arms.

I too am disappointed in Nibs. He should take his warranted punishment like a man and keep his mouth shut except to apologize for his behavior.

Would going from Vino to Tinkov be a good move though? Tinkov is basically a whack job.....

 

[StannisBaratheon]

BMC sounds like a good idea, Porte and TJ are not going to win a Grand Tour anytime soon.

 

[fungusbear]

Re: Re:

Disappointed by Nibali's conduct in both this race and in the Tour. I think he has been more irritated by Astana/pressure of being defending tour champion/injury than we all thought and I think he needs to finish the season now and get his head sorted for 2016. Leaving Astana may be a good option, and certainly if Bertie retires in 2016 TS would welcome him with open arms.

I too am disappointed in Nibs. He should take his warranted punishment like a man and keep his mouth shut except to apologize for his behavior.

Would going from Vino to Tinkov be a good move though? Tinkov is basically a whack job.....

Yeah perhaps, but at least he would inherit a good squad (although maybe Majka might have something to say about it). Maybe the italian team that has been rumoured may come earlier than expected.

 

[Cookster15]

Obviously Nibs hasn't been happy at Astana. Question is why? If we know that it would help to understand what happened after the crash and why he was abandoned by the team. Nothing excuses his actions but lets not forget the guy has won the Giro and Tour riding for Astana. I think he's more than earned their full support - he should have had riders with him after the crash - why didn't he?

Yes I am disappointed by Nibs too. When he 's in top form and winning he has always been a humble champion. But unfortunately I think we learn more about a person when they are under difficulty. What we have seen and heard from Nibs this year hasn't been good. But he still deserved much better from Astana than what we saw this week.

 

[jens_attacks]

He didn't had riders after his crash?
Please stop with this joke
Aru had 2 riders to come back
Nibali, 4
Nibali was just insulting the team, he must leave

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

BMC sounds like a good idea, Porte and TJ are not going to win a Grand Tour anytime soon.

If Sky's contract with Landa isn't signed and sealed yet he could always go to Sky, he could have leadership of the Giro/Vuelta every year. Obviously I don't expect this to happen!

 

[SafeBet]

First of all, he deserved to be thrown at. This is the first time he doesn't finish a GT in 14 attempts. A horrible season, probably the worst of his pro career.

Then his post on Facebook.
To begin with, it should be noted Nibali's italian is very bad. I'm not even sure he finished high school, so sometimes it's not easy to understand what he's trying to say, even for a native speaker like me.
With that in mind, I don't think his post was that bad. He doesn't complain about the lack of teammates. He mentions that other riders attacked while he was down, but then he clearly states: this is cycling, nobody waits, especially after a crash.

As for the interview, it's really bad. Blaming Ewan, a neo-pro with zero experience in a GT, was classless. Crashes happen all the time, and he probably wasn't even the one causing it. And then his words on Astana, a very clear message: I want out. The way I see it, both sides are to blame here. Vino's words after the first MTF in the TdF were unacceptable, but Nibbles beahviour from then on has been naive and childish. I believe he was forced to ride the Vuelta, but that's his job and he's very well paid to do it.

I don't see how he could ride any other race with Astana.

 

[StannisBaratheon]

Re:

He didn't had riders after his crash?
Please stop with this joke
Aru had 2 riders to come back
Nibali, 4
Nibali was just insulting the team, he must leave

He got a bike almost one minute and a half after the crash, then received 3 riders who couldn't keep a decent pace for more than 5 km.
Astana is the Real Madrid of cycling, great individual quality but poor management. See what happened in Giro too. Nibali should find another team.

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

He got a bike almost one minute and a half after the crash, then received 3 riders who couldn't keep a decent pace for more than 5 km.
Astana is the Real Madrid of cycling, great individual quality but poor management. See what happened in Giro too. Nibali should find another team.

Could've been better of course, but he wasn't even the designated captain for this race. He's acting like a diva, or simply wants out of Astana.

 

[No_Balls]

Re: Re:

As for his blame on Ewan. Ok, we all could get it wrong sometimes (although you as a rider of Nibalis stature should try to think before you talk) but that he has not admitted (yet) he was wrong and offered an apology to Ewan for his mistake is unacceptable.

 

[markjohnconley]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Has Nibali posted an apology yet?
The director-sportif? or whoever the driver was should be held responsible for the 'lift'; but his accusation against Ewan is unforgiveable without an apology.
At the moment top of my 'Don't Like' list

 

[huge]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Has Nibali posted an apology yet?
The director-sportif? or whoever the driver was should be held responsible for the 'lift'; but his accusation against Ewan is unforgiveable without an apology.
At the moment top of my 'Don't Like' list

Agree.

I hope he'll speak to Ewan and apologies to him, besides doing it publicly.
Bashing on the guy only because he is a neo pro, when he was not even involved in the crash. How the hell did he come to the conclusion that it was Ewan the cause of it?

 

[cineteq]

Re:

Oh Vincenzo, what are you doing to yourself? This should have been a simple apology, acknowledge what you did wasn't right, express that you regret it, make sure you don't do it again. Simple.

He did aopologize:

“I want to publicily apologise for what happened, especially for the people who feel they are angry or ashamed of me!”. “What happened at the Vuelta happens in every race, even if that does mean what I did isn’t right. I should have been punished. The race judges decide the right punishment.”

He was right to call out the double standard. If he apologizes or not to Ewan is his problem. I'm pretty sure he'll do it at some point.

Then his post on Facebook.
To begin with, it should be noted Nibali's italian is very bad. I'm not even sure he finished high school, so sometimes it's not easy to understand what he's trying to say, even for a native speaker like me.

You gotta love these arrogant posters. What does his writing has to do with anything? Knock yourself off that high pedestal brother!

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

You gotta love these arrogant posters. What does his writing has to do with anything? Knock yourself off that high pedestal brother!

It has a lot to do with basic understanding of his texts.
Since some posters here had trouble interpreting his comments and were wondering if there were mistakes in the translation, I offered my point of view on the matter. I don't want to make fun of Nibali, but he's hard to understand at times. Ask any other italian native speaker here, his grammar and syntax are terrible. Which is perfectly fair, he's a pro rider, not an author, and he will probably get a goot ghost writer once he decides it's time for an autobiography.

 

[hrotha]

I did notice he used a lot of gratuitous exclamation marks, but that's about as much as my knowledge of Italian permits.