Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Salvarani]

Such a bummer. He was the one taking up the chase after Froome when he attacked and he looked strong

Would have been so great to see what he could have done in the 3rd week!!!

Now its literally only Dumo that provide a serious threat, but hopefully Roglic, Landa and Bardet will not fight among themselves and instead help with putting pressure on Sky

 

[postmanhat]

Re: Re:

Sad to see anyone go out like this, but Nibali was going to top 5 at very best. For me, he's moving towards the second tier of GT riders.

Would love to see him focus on one day races, maybe even the cobbles?

I'm not sure how you got to this conclusion. Maybe because Froome is the only one in the first tier? One of the more insignificant reasons why yesterday was so sad is because of comments like these. His form in this Tour would've at least landed him a podium. Trust me, there are people around here who know when he is in form and when he is then at the moment there's only one plus maybe Dumoulin who are better than Nibali in a grand tour.

Good points and top 5 was harsh in retrospect. I'd say Bardet, Dumoulin and Froome are all consistently better climbers. Quintana last year, Thomas this, and who knows how much better Roglic, S.Yates and possibly even Chaves will be next year. Time and age are not on his side. I didn't say he was second grade, but moving towards it.

And given that, would really like to see what he could do focusing more on one day races

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Re:

Nibali is 2nd grade, but frankly the first tier is only Dumoulin and Froome, so he would have still made the podium

You sir are a troll

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Sad to see anyone go out like this, but Nibali was going to top 5 at very best. For me, he's moving towards the second tier of GT riders.

Would love to see him focus on one day races, maybe even the cobbles?

I'm not sure how you got to this conclusion. Maybe because Froome is the only one in the first tier? One of the more insignificant reasons why yesterday was so sad is because of comments like these. His form in this Tour would've at least landed him a podium. Trust me, there are people around here who know when he is in form and when he is then at the moment there's only one plus maybe Dumoulin who are better than Nibali in a grand tour.

Good points and top 5 was harsh in retrospect. I'd say Bardet, Dumoulin and Froome are all consistently better climbers. Quintana last year, Thomas this, and who knows how much better Roglic, S.Yates and possibly even Chaves will be next year. Time and age are not on his side. I didn't say he was second grade, but moving towards it.

And given that, would really like to see what he could do focusing more on one day races

Yes, age is not on his side that's why this exit is so painful. It was probably his last good shot to win it and I dare to say that his preparation was spot on, he was about to hit his best shape in a GT since that last week of the Tour 2015. He could have won on Alpe, he was confident he could have done it and then the proverbial Nibali third week comes. That first attack at 8km to go was just a test it wasn't a fail. He matched Froome's acceleration with ease when disaster struck.

Give him Hautacam three times in a 200km stage and no Froome or Dumoulin or Bardet will drop him that is if they are still around. He can't produce the top watts that some do when everybody's relatively fresh but he can produce the same watts when those others are fading. He is good in any terrain and race conditions. As for the others you mentioned besides Froome and Dumoulin with Quintana seemingly on a downward spiral, none have proved that they can actually win a GT. Which is much more than being an exceptional climber.

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Nibali is 2nd grade, but frankly the first tier is only Dumoulin and Froome, so he would have still made the podium

Please don't feed this troll and all the others. Just coming here to have some fun in their useless lives

As a GC rider he is 2nd grade to Froome

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Of course, the disaster that happened at Alpe d'Huez shouldn't be allowed. But let us to be honest, Nibali was nowhere, out of shape, without any chances at Top-3 at TdF. Just retired man.
And coming back to WC - but of course he has no chances, too old and without preparation.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re:

Nibali is 2nd grade, but frankly the first tier is only Dumoulin and Froome, so he would have still made the podium

To be honest, I don't think so. You are wrong. At TdF 2018 we have:
1 tier - CF, GT, TD;
3 tier- amongst the others: vn.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Bots are out and about

 

[Sestriere]

Wonder what people want to achieve with posts like this. Show off their complete lack of cycling knowledge? Lack off class? Does it get boring to support the guy who always wins? Just trolling?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Bots are out and about

They are all on the ignore list so I don't care.

 

[Bot. Sky_Bot]

Re: Re:

Bots are out and about

They are all on the ignore list so I don't care.

Wait a second, could we exchange our minds, please. I think VN is too old and will not win anything.

 

[dusty red roads]

Gutted for Nibs, and for the race Get well soon!

 

[huge]

A very clear pic of what happened on Alpe d'Huez.

He was following (apparently easily) Froome's attack.
You can see G just behind and TD a few metres back.

As the pic shows, there was a motorbike on his left, slowing down and forcing him closer to the barrier.
Very unluckily that camera strap was swinging outwards... one in a million chances?
And one in a billion that in a fall such as that anyone would break a vertebrae.

To be honest I think he was in very good form and had more than a chance to win the stage.
But we will never know.
Super gutted that we lost one of the few guys that could have really turned the race upside down or at least given us some good fun during the last week.

On a side note. Froome said that he was not aware of Nibali's crash and slowing down later (when the 4 were riding alongside each other) was just a normal race situation... statement that is obviously total ***.
G and TD were behind Nibali, therefore saw very well what happened and were perfectly aware of the situation. And if G was aware, Froome was too the moment the two got together again.

That said, I don't think any of them should have waited even for a second.
Last 4 km of Alpe d'Huez with a race full on! Nibali would be the first to say that waiting in that situation is simply ridiculous.
Even more, when asked if the jury should have granted him the same time of G, as this incident was similar to what happened to Froome on Ventoux, he answered probably not because Froome at the time was in yellow, so a quite different situation.

 

[Gigs_98]

I was just looking at the picture above and noticed, I'm still not over this. He doesn't even look like he is on his limit. He looks so f***ing good. *** *** ***
This is probably a case of overmystifying the shape of a rider who crashed as it's always the case but although my head tells me this, my heart is still screaming how f*cking good he looked.

 

[Rollthedice]

I was just looking at the picture above and noticed, I'm still not over this. He doesn't even look like he is on his limit. He looks so f***ing good. **** **** ****
This is probably a case of overmystifying the shape of a rider who crashed as it's always the case but although my head tells me this, my heart is still screaming how f*cking good he looked.

I said many times here, he was very good. The preparation was spot on with a focus on the third week. He had a real chance to win the whole damn thing. Courtesy of ammattipyöräily on twitter he climbed last 3.36 km in 8 min 41 sec at average speed of 23.22 Kph. VAM 1493 m/h and 5.7 W/kg. With broken vertebrae. On another note he was very humble and with a lot of dignity after. I don't remember any similar situation in the last decades when a contender with a real chance to win Le Tour is taken out by spectators. Here is a video with Prudhomme waiting for him at the hotel than night when he got back from the hospital in Grenoble, still wearing his race kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhARSmHImx0

 

[jsem94]

He might have looked good, but he still never looked like being able to distance Sky. Not in the third week yet, I know, but still. Here's hoping he gets back to contend for the Vuelta.

 

[Red Rick]

I was just looking at the picture above and noticed, I'm still not over this. He doesn't even look like he is on his limit. He looks so f***ing good. **** **** ****
This is probably a case of overmystifying the shape of a rider who crashed as it's always the case but although my head tells me this, my heart is still screaming how f*cking good he looked.

I said many times here, he was very good. The preparation was spot on with a focus on the third week. He had a real chance to win the whole damn thing. Courtesy of ammattipyöräily on twitter he climbed last 3.36 km in 8 min 41 sec at average speed of 23.22 Kph. VAM 1493 m/h and 5.7 W/kg. With broken vertebrae. On another note he was very humble and with a lot of dignity after. I don't remember any similar situation in the last decades when a contender with a real chance to win Le Tour is taken out by spectators. Here is a video with Prudhomme waiting for him at the hotel than night when he got back from the hospital in Grenoble, still wearing his race kit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhARSmHImx0

I swear that when Nibali said his daughter would be happy to see him, my heart broke a little much

Also, they rode AdH with a positive split. There was a table showing times between switchbacks and at one point they were well on their way to a sub '40 time.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I’ve cleared up a few posts in here from the past page or so.

Please keep things civil and avoid personal attacks, if you don’t agree with a poster, then use the ignore button.

 

[HelloDolly]

I am more upset than I can explain about Nibali being taken out of the Tour

I am sure he would have gotten stronger in the final week as Froome & Dumoulin got weaker

Thus I expeced a Thomas v Nibali v SK race ...and a good showdown

Terrible terrible ...desole

 

[Red Rick]

Rumour has it that Team Bahrein-Merida wants to sue the ASO now

http://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/382753/bahrain-merida-wil-aso-aanklagen-na-val-nibali.html?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

 

[yaco]

Selective memories from Bahrain Merida - They've forgotten Sagan in Flanders when a scarf sitting over the barrier tangled up with his bike - Certain that an Italian rider was brought down by a camera in the final of a stage two or three years ago.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

Selective memories from Bahrain Merida - They've forgotten Sagan in Flanders when a scarf sitting over the barrier tangled up with his bike - Certain that an Italian rider was brought down by a camera in the final of a stage two or three years ago.

So what? Only shows this already should have happened years ago.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Selective memories from Bahrain Merida - They've forgotten Sagan in Flanders when a scarf sitting over the barrier tangled up with his bike - Certain that an Italian rider was brought down by a camera in the final of a stage two or three years ago.

So what? Only shows this already should have happened years ago.

Because sometimes accidents happen no matter what precautions are taken - How do you stop the Sagan crash at Flanders ?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Selective memories from Bahrain Merida - They've forgotten Sagan in Flanders when a scarf sitting over the barrier tangled up with his bike - Certain that an Italian rider was brought down by a camera in the final of a stage two or three years ago.

So what? Only shows this already should have happened years ago.

Because sometimes accidents happen no matter what precautions are taken - How do you stop the Sagan crach at Flanders ?

In Flanders people were behind the barriers. On Alpe they were on the road IN FRONT of the barriers in a high risk area which is not representative for a proper organization. Nibali himself dodged in the last second a guy with a phone in MSR while going 60 km/h to the line. Same thing that idiot, he was behind the barrier, nothing to do with the organizers.

 

[Red Rick]