Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[HelloDolly]

Yates at the press conference said he was hoping for Nibali's time yesterday and he thinks Niblai looks very good on the bike at the moment
Also said he is hoping to attack once they get to the mountains ..seemed very eager to start asap

I dont think Nibalis is the NOW best climber in the race ...Yates,Bilbao ,Landa MAL are probably better
But Nibali is the smartest GC rider and also will take advantage of every slip everyone else makes, will make time in bad conditions and on descents, on multiple climbs...He is the best all round
I know I know Roglic can descend but what no one seems to appreciate is that Roglic will have a bad day too
Everyone has a bad day ...just have to wait and see how bad it is

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Everyone has a bad day ...just have to wait and see how bad it is

Froome had a lot of bad days last year but still won the Giro, so I think a lot will depend on the weather and how well the GC guys can recovery every day in the mountains. Then of course there's the last day ITT so Roglic has that always to his, seeming, advantage.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

A.Yates did drop Roglic on the most difficult day in Tirreno Adriatico.

Yates was Purito-like in that stage. Nibali can't do that. Actually, Roglic is much more explosive than him. I'm not sure that even Simon can do that. He doesn't seem as punchy as Adam to me.
If Roglic keeps his cool, he has this in the bag.

Except this is not T-A. Why are we even talking about who's who and what did he do on punchy climbs? We have no real comparison standard on proper mountains between Roglic and Nibali, all we can do is speculate based on brokeback mountain and Lombardia.

Roglic getting dropped in that TA stage may actually be significant cause that stage was ridden super hard like 3 climbs from the finish. It's short explosive climbs, yes, and I don't know how the time gaps evolved on the final climb compared to Dumoulin but I'm not sure Dumoulin was actually slower than Roglic on the final hill.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Everyone has a bad day ...just have to wait and see how bad it is

Froome had a lot of bad days last year but still won the Giro, so I think a lot will depend on the weather and how well the GC guys can recovery every day in the mountains. Then of course there's the last day ITT so Roglic has that always to his, seeming, advantage.

Finestre last year is probably the ONLY stage in the last 10 years where a solo move could win 3 minutes over everyone AND where it was the most sensible tactic as well.

 

[WKA311]

Re: Re:

A.Yates did drop Roglic on the most difficult day in Tirreno Adriatico.

Yates was Purito-like in that stage. Nibali can't do that. Actually, Roglic is much more explosive than him. I'm not sure that even Simon can do that. He doesn't seem as punchy as Adam to me.
If Roglic keeps his cool, he has this in the bag.

Except this is not T-A. Why are we even talking about who's who and what did he do on punchy climbs? We have no real comparison standard on proper mountains between Roglic and Nibali, all we can do is speculate based on brokeback mountain and Lombardia.

Roglic getting dropped in that TA stage may actually be significant cause that stage was ridden super hard like 3 climbs from the finish. It's short explosive climbs, yes, and I don't know how the time gaps evolved on the final climb compared to Dumoulin but I'm not sure Dumoulin was actually slower than Roglic on the final hill.

A. Yates had his first peak of form for T-A, Roglic on the other hand had a really high level but wasn't peaking. I wouldn't read too much into T-A.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Yates at the press conference said he was hoping for Nibali's time yesterday and he thinks Niblai looks very good on the bike at the moment
Also said he is hoping to attack once they get to the mountains ..seemed very eager to start asap

I dont think Nibalis is the NOW best climber in the race ...Yates,Bilbao ,Landa MAL are probably better
But Nibali is the smartest GC rider and also will take advantage of every slip everyone else makes, will make time in bad conditions and on descents, on multiple climbs...He is the best all round
I know I know Roglic can descend but what no one seems to appreciate is that Roglic will have a bad day too
Everyone has a bad day ...just have to wait and see how bad it is

Bilbao is probably better climber than Nibali!? :surprised:
You know something we don't know?

 

[Rollthedice]

Since we are still in the Po Valley and there's more than a day and a half to the first real climb in the Giro, here's Michele Pallini, for those who follow Nibali, his masseur, soigneur and confidant. Nice short chat with the man here: https://www.tuttobiciweb.it/article/2019/05/21/1558423709/michele-pallini-vincenzo-nibali-giro-d-italia-bahrain-merida

Some bits from the article:

"In the evening he would never go to sleep, in the morning he wouldn't want to wake up. By day he falls asleep as soon as he can, it's his strength. The other day, in order to go from the finish line of L'Aquila to the hotel there were fifty kilometers. As soon as he got on the minivan he complained: how uncomfortable these seats are. Three minutes later he was already asleep, we woke him up when we arrived ".

"Eighty percent of the tranquility comes from the awareness of having done everything to the fullest. The other twenty gives him the fact of not having to prove anything to anyone, no longer has the knife in his teeth. On the other hand, he has the experience to know how and when to move in the race."

We cannot but think of what he has always told us, that when he won important races he was always angry, for one reason or another. Pallini raises his arms, "you will see that from here to the end he will find a reason to get angry, don't worry".

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Pallini raises his arms, "you will see that from here to the end he will find a reason to get angry, and [still not] worry".

shark sounds just right then!

 

[HelloDolly]

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

 

[HelloDolly]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

Not an expert but not sure it works like that, otherwise a similar effect would have been felt by all.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

Not an expert but not sure it works like that, otherwise a similar effect would have been felt by all.

Exactly. The fact that other high profile riders, GC contenders failed miserably point to the fact that the race until then and the particular conditions during the TT influenced decisively their performance.

 

[Sestriere]

If it was too easy for Yates, why didn't he ride an extra hour or so at his personal comfortable pace after the stages?

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

Not an expert but not sure it works like that, otherwise a similar effect would have been felt by all.

Exactly. The fact that other high profile riders, GC contenders failed miserably point to the fact that the race until then and the particular conditions during the TT influenced decisively their performance.

Don't know if you are considering Landa a GC contender or not. He said he was very happy with his ITT performance and was even happier it was better than Yates. So there's that.

 

[SHAD0W93]

So what I'm getting is last year he went to hard in the stages and that's why he cracked, now they are too easy causing him to crack?

 

[rick james]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

Not an expert but not sure it works like that, otherwise a similar effect would have been felt by all.

the cycling podcast was talking about this the other day, Yates was saying because the Giro last year had a big climb early and the Vuelta had a big day early on it almost like blowing the cobwebs off the legs, they need that big climb early to get he legs working

 

[Cinemaniak]

Re: Re:

Lots of riders saying the giro so far has been easier than training with the watts they are putting out

Surley this is bad for Nibali who needs it to be very hard

Maybe for yesterday but until the first rest day it was so easy that Yates, Lopez and Landa were already dead by the time they reached the climb in San Marino.

Well Yates did say that becasue it was so easy he was poor on the climb...he thinks he has de trained as stages so much easier than his training...just what the man said

Not an expert but not sure it works like that, otherwise a similar effect would have been felt by all.

the cycling podcast was talking about this the other day, Yates was saying because the Giro last year had a big climb early and the Vuelta had a big day early on it almost like blowing the cobwebs off the legs, they need that big climb early to get he legs working

Sounds like some cycling version of bro-science to me...

 

[Jagartrott]

Too bad he didn't try to bridge to Landa/Lopez at the end of the climb. Would've put Roglic and Yates under pressure.

 

[SafeBet]

He looks a bit overeager too prove he's in great shape. Didn't need to work on the flat while Roglic was resting at the back of the group.
Can't wait for tomorrow.

 

[Climbing]

Didn't watch too closely from work, but he looked too much to the front!
But that usually is a good sign of form for Vincenzo.

 

[IndianCyclist]

The Shark is not happy with the Ski jumper

 

[Rollthedice]

Looking good and already pissed off at Roglic. That will give him a bit of extra motivation. Hopefully Pozzo will be there when really needed, Astana can inflict chaos and MS as a team looks better than their captain until now. Hopefully he will not develop an obsession with Roglic and let another one slip away since I think that the Slovenian will crack at some point.

"As for me, I had a good day: I'm fine and we'll see soon what I can do"

 

[Climbing]

But I've heard the interview and he wasn't pissed at all, just described what happened.
Tomorrow I expect his attack at least on the last climb, unless there's a chance to get in a move before.
He looks very good.

 

[Red Rick]

*** I'm nervous for tomorrow.