Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[the_cutter]

I don't think Nibbles gets time on Froome here, but I want to see something today that tells me that it can happen later in the race. C'mon Nibbles throw us a bone!

 

[Climbing]

Heavy rain at start and even more on the main climb, so can be both dangerous and an opportunity.

 

[Eclipse]

Didn't work but he tried and the legs look pretty good.

Just has to keep trying, every attack is a chance to force a mistake or force people deeper than they want to go and if he wants to actually win that is what will have to happen at some point.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

the legs look pretty good.

.

Uhm. I'm not so sure. He was caught in a flat section while Roche finally has gone.
We'll see. Anyway he is improving, that's for surr

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

the legs look pretty good.

.

Uhm. I'm not so sure. He was caught in a flat section while Roche finally has gone.
We'll see. Anyway he is improving, that's for surr

Roche is bigger and more powerful than Nibali so that isn't a surprise. His attack on the climb was a bigger problem

 

[Climbing]

Re: Re:

the legs look pretty good.

.

Uhm. I'm not so sure. He was caught in a flat section while Roche finally has gone.
We'll see. Anyway he is improving, that's for surr

Roche is bigger and more powerful than Nibali so that isn't a surprise. His attack on the climb was a bigger problem

Roche used a lot of energy there, while Nibali's attack was perfectly planned, as he catched his team mate when the descend flattened.
Too bad Chaves was able to stay pretty near in the end, so didn't work, still good try.

 

[Gigs_98]

It might be true that his shape improves but he really has to start gaining time asap if he wants to keep that tiny chance to win alive and today might have been one of the best opportunities

 

[skippo12]

They timed the help really badly...caught the Bahrain guy from the break with 1km to go. Nibali needed him earlier when he had a 100m gap. Not a chance to stay in front against 15 riders alone. Even more important the attack wasn`t strong enough. They came over the last mountain with more than 20 riders. Bahrain needs to set a harder pace or Nibali himself needs to find the legs to reduce the group to max 5 riders before he can crush them downhill. Froome, Chavez and Contador isolated cannot hold his wheel but sitting in a group with Roche and the Sky train they easily can.
It was pretty obvious that he gave up on his attempt because the lead wasn`t getting any bigger than 10s and Sky would have caught him on the last 4 kms.
I am more concerned about his weak attack on the final km of the climb. His Giro stage win came after a hard attack that dropped all opponents except for Quintana (Pozzo, Zakarin where still within 5s). To challenge Froome you need to isolate him...it should be possible for Nibali, Contador or Chavez to drop Nieve, Moscon and Poels. Don`t know what else to make of this stage because Orica, BMC, Aru and Contador didn`t try anything.

 

[fauniera]

Nibali needs a harder stage to make an uphill attack stick. Like tomorrow.

 

[Climbing]

Well, tomorrow nobody can hide their true legs I guess, there's some proper climbing to do.
Let's see what happens.

Edit: the attack uphill didn't look that bad, nothing major was just to prepare the descent I guess. Plus of course wasn't a particularly hard climb where to easily make the difference.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Well, tomorrow nobody can hide their true legs I guess, there's some proper climbing to do.
Let's see what happens.

Edit: the attack uphill didn't look that bad, nothing major was just to prepare the descent I guess. Plus of course wasn't a particularly hard climb where to easily make the difference.

The attack looked quite strong to me. Reduced the group to very few in no time, but the gaps were so small all glued together on the descent.

 

[SafeBet]

Nibali has one major problem: his accelerations don't drop anybody unless a very hard pace has been set before. And I don't think ha has a teammate who's good enough to set such a hard pace for a long time. Perhaps Pellizotti could do it in the third week, but I'm skeptical.

Overall this was a good stage for Nibali anyway. Ridden hard from the start and with some bad weather. Other riders could pay for this effort later in the race. Still, it's hard to see him beating Froome.

 

[Climbing]

Re:

Nibali has one major problem: his accelerations don't drop anybody unless a very hard pace has been set before. And I don't think ha has a teammate who's good enough to set such a hard pace for a long time. Perhaps Pellizotti could do it in the third week, but I'm skeptical.

Overall this was a good stage for Nibali anyway. Ridden hard from the start and with some bad weather. Other riders could pay for this effort later in the race. Still, it's hard to see him beating Froome.

Indeed, let's see how is everybody tomorrow, especially how well Froome does at altitude with Tour in the legs.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Vuelta has too many monoclimb stages and ultrasteep monster finishes. I think Nibali will finish top 3/top 5 on experience alone, but this race doesn't seem built for him

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Vuelta has too many monoclimb stages and ultrasteep monster finishes. I think Nibali will finish top 3/top 5 on experience alone, but this race doesn't seem built for him

Had. Look at the parcours for the next two weeks. But I agree it's not quite his cup of tea. Regarding today, he wasn't gonna drop anybody on 4-5%. Moscon closed his first attack. Anyway he has to try whenever there's the slightest opportunity, also a good day after the rest to get back in the rhythm. Tomorrow will be an important day for GC.

 

[Climbing]

The unfavorable part for Nibali is over, now the route suits him fine.
Of course, needs good legs, that goes without saying.

 

[yaco]

Nibali has no issue with the parcours at this Vuelta, or in fact any Vuelta - Has won and placed second in the past - It's a matter of how good his form will be in the remaining 11 stages.

 

[Forever The Best]

The hard part of the race for him (the first 9 stages) are over.
Didn't watch the stage today but read that he attacked on a descent and was caught later. How was he? Did he look strong?

 

[starlord]

Re:

The hard part of the race for him (the first 9 stages) are over.
Didn't watch the stage today but read that he attacked on a descent and was caught later. How was he? Did he look strong?

He was ok. Could have gained a few seconds on Zakarin whom I see as his main challenger for the podium spot but did not happen.

 

[dacooley]

multiple grand tour winner shouldnt search for an excuse in unfavourable route. he's not nairo who can't tt, and there are no narrow murito specialists, as valverde or rodriguez, who we might refer to and tell 'hey, nibali losing some ground to them on this terrain is perfectly normal'. from now on im expecting the shark's form to improve as the mountain stages progress. he won't be outnumbered by chaves and froome, that's for sure.

 

[axl]

I think he tried to put pressure on the other in the beginning of the descent, hoping Froome or another favorite would be afraid or crash. Once he saw that didn't happen, he stopped his effort.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

multiple grand tour winner shouldnt search for an excuse in unfavourable route. he's not nairo who can't tt, and there are no narrow murito specialists, as valverde or rodriguez, who we might refer to and tell 'hey, nibali losing some ground to them on this terrain is perfectly normal'. from now on im expecting the shark's form to improve as the mountain stages progress. he won't be outnumbered by chaves and froome, that's for sure.

There's plenty of riders who are favoured relatively by the parcours compared to Lo Squalo. I think about 197 of those riders started the Vuelta

 

[Gigs_98]

Yeah the parcours doesn't suit him but then again, there hasn't been a vuelta route which suits him better for years.

 

[Red Rick]

2013. It had 12 uphill finishes, but only few of them were the 10 minute Murito's where he loses the most. And it had some asbolute killer stage designs as well. And it had apocalyptic weather. And it didn't have Froome.

How did he not win that?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Re:

2013. It had 12 uphill finishes, but only few of them were the 10 minute Murito's where he loses the most. And it had some asbolute killer stage designs as well. And it had apocalyptic weather. And it didn't have Froome.

How did he not win that?

:lol: