Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Classic Nibali really.

I remember when he was a young rider he was always testing his limits. Going with attacks of big favorites, and then completely blowing. It helped him getting stronger and actually being able to pull it off later in his career. But from time to time it still happens he tries to follow or close supreme climbers (Quintana / Froome) and then blowing up.
If he chose his own pace he might have done better than Dumoulin and Pinot, instead of finishing behind them.

It's weird that such an experienced rider like Nibali makes these kind of mistakes. Or is it maybe some sort of weird pride? That he wants to show he is capable of following Quintana and not giving in?

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

I read on twitter that he has the flu. Did anyone else see anything?

Meanwhile he stayed in the saddle for the entire climb. Why?????

Because it's better to stay in the saddle instead of climbing like Contador. Not as visually attractive though, but its efficiency is higher.

Highly individual. Physiological make up and everything

 

[dfromdub]

Re: Re:

This doesn't sound like something the media made up:

“It’s true, we don’t like each other”

That's not the exact quote from Nibali. They spinned his words to clickbait people into read the articles.

His quote was:

"È normale, anche Nairo è qui per vincere. Rivali? Sì, non ci amiamo, non ho lo stesso rapporto che posso avere con Aru. O non ci dialogo come per esempio faccio con Contador"

Which translates to:
It is normal, Nairo is here to win too. Rivals? Yes, we do not love each other, it is not the same relation I could have with Aru. And (or) I do not talk to him like I would do with Contador

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

I read on twitter that he has the flu. Did anyone else see anything?

Meanwhile he stayed in the saddle for the entire climb. Why?????

Because it's better to stay in the saddle instead of climbing like Contador. Not as visually attractive though, but its efficiency is higher.

Highly individual. Physiological make up and everything

Yeah, wrong to say one way is better than another. Some prefer to stay seated, others prefer to stand up.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I read on twitter that he has the flu. Did anyone else see anything?

Meanwhile he stayed in the saddle for the entire climb. Why?????

I saw his interview and he did not mention a flu, they also asked him if he had an "hunger crysis" and he said he ate perfectly through out the stage. He was expecting Quintana to be faster (than him) on this kind of stage.

Thanks all. No excuses, that is good. Hopefully the form comes!

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

I read on twitter that he has the flu. Did anyone else see anything?

Meanwhile he stayed in the saddle for the entire climb. Why?????

Because it's better to stay in the saddle instead of climbing like Contador. Not as visually attractive though, but its efficiency is higher.

Highly individual. Physiological make up and everything

He always gets out of the saddle, so remaining seated throughout is a change for him....

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

This doesn't sound like something the media made up:

“It’s true, we don’t like each other”

That's not the exact quote from Nibali. They spinned his words to clickbait people into read the articles.

His quote was:

"È normale, anche Nairo è qui per vincere. Rivali? Sì, non ci amiamo, non ho lo stesso rapporto che posso avere con Aru. O non ci dialogo come per esempio faccio con Contador"

Which translates to:
It is normal, Nairo is here to win too. Rivals? Yes, we do not love each other, it is not the same relation I could have with Aru. And (or) I do not talk to him like I would do with Contador

If that's the case and they changed his words and then reported it, that really sucks. Where's the journalistic integrity? I know, I know, they do it all the time, but it still pisses me off.

 

[lenric]

Re: Re:

I read on twitter that he has the flu. Did anyone else see anything?

Meanwhile he stayed in the saddle for the entire climb. Why?????

Because it's better to stay in the saddle instead of climbing like Contador. Not as visually attractive though, but its efficiency is higher.

Highly individual. Physiological make up and everything

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/should-you-sit-or-stand-when-riding-uphill

No clear benefits for neither position, as you stated.

 

[Climbing]

Re:

Classic Nibali really.

I remember when he was a young rider he was always testing his limits. Going with attacks of big favorites, and then completely blowing. It helped him getting stronger and actually being able to pull it off later in his career. But from time to time it still happens he tries to follow or close supreme climbers (Quintana / Froome) and then blowing up.
If he chose his own pace he might have done better than Dumoulin and Pinot, instead of finishing behind them.

It's weird that such an experienced rider like Nibali makes these kind of mistakes. Or is it maybe some sort of weird pride? That he wants to show he is capable of following Quintana and not giving in?

I think you're spot on.
If he had paced himself would have surely come with Dumoulin and Pinot... if not even in front.
Pride maybe, he must have felt very good.

 

[SeriousSam]

Pinot and Nibali is a fair comparison since they climbed the same rate prior to Nibali blowing up.

There's no way better pacing would have somehow resulted in Nibali finishing in front of Pinot.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Why not? If Nibali had not gone with the initial attack (leaving only Pinot to respond). Stayed with dumoulin/Mollema. Then staying with Dumoulin all the way to Pinot, and then doing one of his accelerations near the top? I think it was a real viable strategy. He chose differently.

 

[gerundium]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I don't remember clearly but he was also closing the attacks by quintana by riding elbows on the bars. I don't think i've ever seen nibali do that before either? That was some real marginal gains stuff on a 9% gradient climb.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I don't remember clearly but he was also closing the attacks by quintana by riding elbows on the bars. I don't think i've ever seen nibali do that before either? That was some real marginal gains stuff on a 9% gradient climb.

I've seen him do it on flats in the peloton when it close to breaking into echelons.

 

[Jelantik]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I don't remember clearly but he was also closing the attacks by quintana by riding elbows on the bars. I don't think i've ever seen nibali do that before either? That was some real marginal gains stuff on a 9% gradient climb.

I thought Nibali must have had some monster form to easily (with elbow on his handle bars) closing Quintana attack on a steep gradient. I looks like, Nibali has a different style of riding. He sits and churns high cadence almost like Froome's style now.

 

[Red Rick]

Nibali has been doing that since 2014, difference is that now he goes in full TT position.

 

[del1962]

Pinot showed today that he has the beating of Nibali

 

[Valv.Piti]

Normally a great climbing style, I try to imitate it on the climbs here in Denmark (rather bumps), but it looked horrible when he was closing down these attacks with those Froome-esque elbows. I don't approve.

 

[gerundium]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I don't remember clearly but he was also closing the attacks by quintana by riding elbows on the bars. I don't think i've ever seen nibali do that before either? That was some real marginal gains stuff on a 9% gradient climb.

I've seen him do it on flats in the peloton when it close to breaking into echelons.

yea sure doing it on the flats makes sense. but on a climb, especially when it's steep i found it peculiar.

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

Nibali has been doing that since 2014, difference is that now he goes in full TT position.

He effectively time trialled up the Hautacam, just without the elbows.

I think he could've let Pinot chase Quintana down a couple of times as well as just doing it himself. But he's never been fantastic on these sort of very steep climbs, not even when he was younger, so I don't know how much we can take out of it. Especially because he did manage to chase down Quintana 3 times.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

He's never been good at the steep stuff is a bad excuse. He should normally still be able to stay ahead of Mollema and Dumoulin you would think.

 

[Brullnux]

Yeah but his tactics were pretty off. I think if he paced himself better he'd have finished around where Dumoulin was, an di losing half a minute on such a climb to Quintana isn't a bad performance at all.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re: Re:

Nibali has been doing that since 2014, difference is that now he goes in full TT position.

He effectively time trialled up the Hautacam, just without the elbows.

I think he could've let Pinot chase Quintana down a couple of times as well as just doing it himself. But he's never been fantastic on these sort of very steep climbs, not even when he was younger, so I don't know how much we can take out of it. Especially because he did manage to chase down Quintana 3 times.

He was the only one with Basso and Scarponi up Mortriolo in Giro 2010.
Also 3rd in Zoncolan in Giro 2011 behind Anton and Contador. 2nd in Bola del Mundo in 2010 Vuelta behind Mosquera.
So he has showed good performances on steep long climbs. He looked strong yesterday but cracked hard for 1-2 km then kept the gap. He should have ridden his own pace like he did on Bola.

 

[Cycle Chic]

its probably a south african Brent Copeland advice thing - to copy Froome ...how sad to see Nibali, one of the, if not the, greatest bike handler / rider now looking like a freak.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

its probably a south african Brent Copeland advice thing - to copy Froome ...how sad to see Nibali, one of the, if not the, greatest bike handler / rider now looking like a freak.

Nah, it's the Slongo approach to reach an absolute peak in the last week by forcing him to ride in unnatural position, unsuitable gear, wrong crank length so when he gets back to his usual he'll fly.

 

[bambino]

Re: Re:

its probably a south african Brent Copeland advice thing - to copy Froome ...how sad to see Nibali, one of the, if not the, greatest bike handler / rider now looking like a freak.

Nah, it's the Slongo approach to reach an absolute peak in the last week by forcing him to ride in unnatural position, unsuitable gear, wrong crank length so when he gets back to his usual he'll fly.

I think this is very close to the truth. Last time I've seen Nibali driving full long climb from the seat was certain Dauphine in 2014. And we all know what happened afterwards...