Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Jelantik]

I think they will take it easy after two very hard days, unless MS and Hesjedal had something planned. Also excited to see how Astana defend PINK

Hmmm.... hesjedal lost a lot of time in TT today. He got to start chipping away the time now. If he's waiting for the week 3.. 2 minutes in the mountain is a huge task to conquer especially because all the contenders seem to have a great form. I do hope JV told him.. 'attack'!!!!!!

 

[maxmartin]

Hmmm.... hesjedal lost a lot of time in TT today. He got to start chipping away the time now. If he's waiting for the week 3.. 2 minutes in the mountain is a huge task to conquer especially because all the contenders seem to have a great form. I do hope JV told him.. 'attack'!!!!!!

Hesjedal is never good at long ITT, he was two minute behind Nibali today. In olympics, he was one minute behind Menchov. While in 2012 Tour, Nibali is ahead of Menchov in both ITT. So Hejedal did just fine. fits history pattern. I feel MS is a dangerous guy now, he would be right up there if it was not for that stupid one minute fall and bike change.

My guts feeling is big favorites won't attack each other tomorrow after two hard days, but this Giro so far is full of surprise. So anything is still on the table, MTF stages have not started yet

 

[Netserk]

Nibali basically 'won' the competition in the first technical part

2nd part times:

kangert 37:02 1:19:20 => 32:18
wiggins 37:12 1:09:37 => 32:25
henao 36:47 1:10:05 => 33:18
kelderman 37:45 1:11:06 => 33:21
scarponi 36:50 1:10:16 => 33:26
evans 36:42 1:10:11 => 33:29
nibali 36:12 1:09:45 => 33:33
gesink 37:01 1:10:36 => 33:35
uran 37:02 1:10:37 => 33:35
sanchez 38:19 1:12:28 => 34:09
pozzovivo 37:51 1:12:00 => 34:09
hesjedal 37:03 1:11:22 => 34:19
santambrogio 38:04 1:13:23 => 35:19

Barely doing better than Gesink

giro is far from over.

Wouldn't it be more logical to use the 1st part times to conclude that? Otherwise you need to include the times from the final 5km.

 

[maxmartin]

“I’ll look to defend the jersey and my rivals will certainly look to attack me,” Nibali said. “In this first part of the Giro, I’ve stayed pretty covered and only gone on the attack once so far [on stage 7 to Pescara]. If there’s a chance to gain seconds in the in the stages to come ahead then I’ll go for it, but I’ll also defend myself against my rivals.”

Asked if he had taken the jersey too early, Nibali suggested that the aim was simply to keep calm and carry on. “We’ll try not to lose it and we’ll try to stay calm,” he said. “Being tranquillo is part of who I am and when I’m relaxed I can give 100 percent."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-giro-ditalia-isnt-over-yet-says-nibali

He only attacked once and gained one minute over Wiggins even with two fall

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

“I’ll look to defend the jersey and my rivals will certainly look to attack me,” Nibali said. “In this first part of the Giro, I’ve stayed pretty covered and only gone on the attack once so far [on stage 7 to Pescara]. If there’s a chance to gain seconds in the in the stages to come ahead then I’ll go for it, but I’ll also defend myself against my rivals.”

Asked if he had taken the jersey too early, Nibali suggested that the aim was simply to keep calm and carry on. “We’ll try not to lose it and we’ll try to stay calm,” he said. “Being tranquillo is part of who I am and when I’m relaxed I can give 100 percent."

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-giro-ditalia-isnt-over-yet-says-nibali

He only attacked once and gained one minute over Wiggins even with two fall

He seems really confident. This sounds really promising

 

[ILovecycling]

Maglia Rosa!YES!

anyway...it will be difficult to keep it.IMO Scarponi is the biggest threat with Hesjedal and Wiggins in that order.Evans and Gesink can surprise too

 

[maxmartin]

Maglia Rosa!YES!

anyway...it will be difficult to keep it.IMO Scarponi is the biggest threat with Hesjedal and Wiggins in that order.Evans and Gesink can surprise too

Scarponi would be the greatest danger if he did not lose one minute on bike change. Hesjedal his climbing on the TT course did not impress me actually worse than Evans IMO. Evans could be dangerous, especially he is kinda punchy when finishline is up to grab bonus seconds.

 

[Netserk]

Prediction of final GC:

Nibali 1st
Scarponi 2nd
Gesink/Hesjedal 3rd

 

[maxmartin]

Prediction of final GC:

Nibali 1st
Scarponi 2nd
Gesink/Hesjedal 3rd

tentatively agree, but still too early to predict. I reserve the right until after first MTF

 

[Netserk]

Scarponi looks stronger than ever. I think he'll be the biggest threat.

 

[maxmartin]

Hard work always pays and my new TT bike rocks.

Vincenzo Nibali on time trial prep

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdDOiaPWjHc

Point 1: He is still fairly young, he still try to improve himself everyday
Point 2: He realized his shortcoming in long ITT(>50km) in last year Tour, he worked hard in the winter with his team and bike manufacture. And result showed today!

 

[movingtarget]

I could be wrong but I don't see Scarponi or Hesjedal making the podium at this stage.

 

[Pippo_San]

He's already in the RoboBasso state of mind, that is he's tranquillo.

A very bad omen for his adversaries

 

[maxmartin]

Scarponi would be the greatest danger if he did not lose one minute on bike change. Hesjedal his climbing on the TT course did not impress me actually worse than Evans IMO. Evans could be dangerous, especially he is kinda punchy when finishline is up to grab bonus seconds.

As it showed today Hesjedal cracked on the climb. Race of truth(ITT) never lies. I am confident in Nibali but worried about his team. Besides Kanget, all the other teammates are invisible.

Well they can always use weak team strategy, ride a casual pace letting an unharmful group getting away. If Mr. Evans or Scarponi want bonus time, then please come ahead doing the work.

 

[whittashau]

I wish Astana had let another team take control today then they could have taken Sir Bradley out of the equation on that descent, but sadly they were too tired. Worrisome about the lack of form shown by many of nibble's teammates. Hopefully they improve a lot after the rest day.

As long as Kangert continues in beast-mode I would be fairly confident though

 

[maxmartin]

I wish Astana had let another team take control today then they could have taken Sir Bradley out of the equation on that descent, but sadly they were too tired. Worrisome about the lack of form shown by many of nibble's teammates. Hopefully they improve a lot after the rest day.

As long as Kangert continues in beast-mode I would be fairly confident though

Some of them are sick or injured. I doubt Kangert can be like this in high mountains.

 

[Carols]

Astana team Needs the rest day badly. I hope they get over illness and injury soon because Lo Sqaulo looks very strong and in control. He will need them badly very soon. Thank Goodness for Knagert! Shame BMC and Lampre didn't do more today. Garmin obviously had no reason to really push it with
Ryder on the ropes.

 

[Jelantik]

very unexpected to see hesjedal being dropped. Now he is far more back than he started. He was struggling in the TT. In the interview, evans said that the TT is a teling of where they are as far as form. So, I wonder what Garmin would do now? I wonder how hesjedal can bounce back, he toppled out of the top 10 almost 3 minutes behind. He's supposedly to have a good recovery. Well, see if his form is going to improve over the next week or he is just having a bad day today.

Sky hasn't shown their card yet as far as their strength. Astana started to look a little worrisome. BMC/Lampre surely missed opportunity to put a nail in the coffin on wiggins today. I hope they won't regret it comes tuesday and and the final week. Tuesday will be for sure the indication of where they are as far as GC form and their team strength.

 

[maxmartin]

very unexpected to see hesjedal being dropped. Now he is far more back than he started. He was struggling in the TT. In the interview, evans said that the TT is a teling of where they are as far as form. So, I wonder what Garmin would do now? I wonder how hesjedal can bounce back, he toppled out of the top 10 almost 3 minutes behind. He's supposedly to have a good recovery. Well, see if his form is going to improve over the next week or he is just having a bad day today.

Sky hasn't shown their card yet as far as their strength. Astana started to look a little worrisome. BMC/Lampre surely missed opportunity to put a nail in the coffin on wiggins today. I hope they won't regret it comes tuesday and and the final week. Tuesday will be for sure the indication of where they are as far as GC form and their team strength.

Unlikely he will claw back unless indeed he kept his best in the high mountains. I remember last year Giro Hesjedal also had shaky moment in the hilly stage but not losing much time. His TT climbing hill time is 7'58. probably the worst among all GC contenders.

Like I said Nibali is in the driving seat now, it is up to other big favorites to initiate firework. Astana is weak but they can always play weak card, let a harmless group get away. If Mr. Evans and Scarponi want bonus time, they will come forward doing the work for Nibali. So Astana can save some energy maybe keeping more people to help Nibali in the latter part of the stage.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Astana truly looks like that have some problems atm. Nibali looks sharp, and so do Tanel "the beast" Kangert. But with a sick/injured Kess, injured Tira, an Agnoli that is awesome one day, and then turn awful the next it is kind of worrysome. Hopefully Aru has been saved by the team to really shine for Nibbles in the high mountains


btw, anyone knows how Aru is doing?

 

[maxmartin]

Brailsford promises to attack Nibali in the coming days.

“Today was interesting to see that when Bradley was coming back on they were riding hard but then they isolated Vincenzo in the end and I think they’ll have to have a look at that because it could leave the opportunities open to attack, which is what we’re going to do.”


“We’ll just be aggressive. We know how difficult it is to defend a jersey and we also know what we don’t like, so we’ll know what to do to make it as aggressive as possible. This race is a long way from being over,” he said, adding that the presence of Uran and Henao in the top ten overall was a positive for Wiggins.


“It gives you options and defending against too many options is always difficult. So I think that’s the thing from our point of view, we’ve got different cards to play,” he said.

 

[Pippo_San]

Like I said Nibali is in the driving seat now, it is up to other big favorites to initiate firework. Astana is weak but they can always play weak card, let a harmless group get away. If Mr. Evans and Scarponi want bonus time, they will come forward doing the work for Nibali. So Astana can save some energy maybe keeping more people to help Nibali in the latter part of the stage.

Actually I'm keen to say Nibs still needs to gain time on Wiggo, just because of the MTT. If nothing happens, he could even lose the Giro for a couple of seconds, you never know.

 

[SafeBet]

Tiralongo was also sick today, fever.
Anybody knows what happened to Aru today? Just plain bad? Or was he asked to work for Nibbles and then just took it easy?

 

[Netserk]

Nibali will win the MTT

 

[maxmartin]

Tiralongo was also sick today, fever.
Anybody knows what happened to Aru today? Just plain bad? Or was he asked to work for Nibbles and then just took it easy?

waste too much energy to do a good ITT yesterday, maybe he wants white jersey