Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Forever The Best]

Anyone think he should try something on stage 16?

 

[Mayomaniac]

I wouldn't mind de Jongh replacing Slongo, just saying...
Edit: And of course he should try something on stage 16.

 

[SafeBet]

Anyone think he should try something on stage 16?

Why not?
What's to lose at this point?
I mean he's got 11 podiums in GTs. I don't think anyone apart from me keeps track of that stat so he shouldn't care about getting the 12th.

 

[Forever The Best]

I agree. But there is also a fair argument for saving legs for an ambush at stage 17 ( yes, stage 17, not the Stelvio one ). But he needs great legs, and allies, lots of it. Call Vino, Ineos, Pozzo etc.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Crowning a 4 time Giro champion

Alberto's making a comeback?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

the thing is, he can't really use his team to make an ambush. And the teams he is trying to ambush have shown to have by far the strongest climbing squads here.

Let's not kid here.. Nibali got dropped by Hamilton for goodness sake, and not even the GOOD Hamilton, no the other Hamilton.. Unless he miracolously find some legs, somewhere, it's completely impossible to do anything

 

[Forever The Best]

the thing is, he can't really use his team to make an ambush. And the teams he is trying to ambush have shown to have by far the strongest climbing squads here.

Let's not kid here.. Nibali got dropped by Hamilton for goodness sake, and not even the GOOD Hamilton, no the other Hamilton.. Unless he miracolously find some legs, somewhere, it's completely impossible to do anything

That's why I said he needs allies. And yes, he needs great legs.

 

[Red Rick]

the thing is, he can't really use his team to make an ambush. And the teams he is trying to ambush have shown to have by far the strongest climbing squads here.

Let's not kid here.. Nibali got dropped by Hamilton for goodness sake, and not even the GOOD Hamilton, no the other Hamilton.. Unless he miracolously find some legs, somewhere, it's completely impossible to do anything

Be careful, lest he just goes off in descent again with someone on his wheel

But at the very least I hope he's better than frigging Hamilton on Stelvio and Agnello

 

[roundabout]

then again I am not confident that Sunweb can do today's demolition job day in and day out

 

[skippo12]

the thing is, he can't really use his team to make an ambush. And the teams he is trying to ambush have shown to have by far the strongest climbing squads here.

Let's not kid here.. Nibali got dropped by Hamilton for goodness sake, and not even the GOOD Hamilton, no the other Hamilton.. Unless he miracolously find some legs, somewhere, it's completely impossible to do anything

He got dropped by worse climbers in previous editions and he basically was just as good as he was in 2017. Simply not enough against Skypostal...I mean Sunweb. His only remaining advantage is the high altitude of the Stelvio, Agnello and Izoard. Based on his history that´s where he is at his strongest. We will see if that´s still the case this year.

 

[Red Rick]

Strongest probably means he might be good enough to get 5th then bazooka that away doing Nibali things.

 

[Brumdog66]

If he does his amazing third week super peak thing again he won't need allies and if he doesn't they won't help him anyway

 

[Rollthedice]

then again I am not confident that Sunweb can do today's demolition job day in and day out

And Stelvio is not Piancavallo. Agnello is a monster. Hindley can't do 6.4 Watts/kg for ever.

 

[Gigs_98]

It's an interesting question whether he should attack on stage 16 and 17. Don't think he'll do it on stage 16, but 17 would be an interesting chance. Problem is that with how weak his team is every attack basically either needs support from other attackers or it has to be a monstrous solo effort. And with stage 18 being the queen stage and suiting him perfectly maybe it's the right call to put all eggs in one basket. Big attacks on Stelvio and Agnello/Izoard and see what happens.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

The Italian PM has suspended public events from midnight, not sure this would stop the Giro.

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

The Italian PM has suspended public events from midnight, not sure this would stop the Giro.

C'mon those stages are hard but I reckon they'll be done by evening.

 

[Anybody_but..]

2014 Giro at second rest day: Quintana was 5th, 2:40 behind the leader.
2016 Giro at second rest day: Nibali was 3rd, 2:51 behind the leader.
2018 Giro at second rest day: Froome was in 7th, 4:52 behind the leader.

All three of them ended up winning the race.

Today, Nibali is 3:29 down, in 7th place. Victory is by no means out of the question.

He can be compared to Quintana or Contador, but Froome is the greatest champion of second decade (with 2018 Giro the best of the best), so there is no hope for Nibali.

 

[Red Rick]

He can be compared to Quintana or Contador, but Froome is the greatest champion of second decade (with 2018 Giro the best of the best), so there is no hope for Nibali.

The entire situations aren't comparable. Even if we ignore a part of the peloton suddenly going much faster, if you give 2018 Froome Nibali's Trek team here he never wins that Giro

 

[lenric]

Nibali must channel his voodoo one last time. Tomorrow he'll have the time to make a dance to the god of mischief

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Now he's been crucified, and in three days time the resurrection of the Messiah of Messina can finally begin... baggus dickus

 

[SafeBet]

Estimated power for Piancavallo should be around 5,9 w/kg for over 40 minutes. It's in line with his performances in his Bahrein days. I don't think this will be enough against Sunweb/Ineos even factoring in altitude, third week, ect...

 

[Red Rick]

Estimated power for Piancavallo should be around 5,9 w/kg for over 40 minutes. It's in line with his performances in his Bahrein days. I don't think this will be enough against Sunweb/Ineos even factoring in altitude, third week, ect...

Lopez was 5.9 on Col de la Loze.

Ignore everything else, should have gone to the Tour.

 

[Rollthedice]

Estimated power for Piancavallo should be around 5,9 w/kg for over 40 minutes. It's in line with his performances in his Bahrein days. I don't think this will be enough against Sunweb/Ineos even factoring in altitude, third week, ect...

They say that third week is another sport. Stelvio, Izoard, Agnello are quite different to Piancavallo, if he is pushing watts close to his best post 2013/14 then he can do something.

 

[Red Rick]

They say that third week is another sport. Stelvio, Izoard, Agnello are quite different to Piancavallo, if he is pushing watts close to his best post 2013/14 then he can do something.

I'm willing to believe he did himself no favors by blowing up and maybe could've done 6.0. I don't believe he can do 2014 all of a sudden and not even that would be enough.

Hell 5.9 was the number for MAL in the Tour on Col de la Loze. An hour at 5.9 at an average altitude above the finish of Piancavallo. And the gaps in the top were small there. It's like they're not even in the same race.

 

[italoc]

The realistic goal should be a podium. Which would be number 12 in a GT. Twelve. With Hinault, Merckx, Gimondi, 1 more than Froome. Record is 13, Anquetil. Just to show a much of a champion he is.

Now onto the real stuff. Piancavallo was ridden fast, and in non-Nibali fashion (hard continuous pace from almost the bottom, a la Sky-train). Madonna di Campiglio might also be a problem if ridden in the same way. (By the way that's a weird stage, most likely outcome is all waiting for the final climb, but that side of Bondone is a crazy hard climb, let's see if anything happens there...)

But Stelvio, Agnello and Izoard are different beasts. Longer, high altitude, and you are bound to go mano a mano in the final kms. This is where IMHO Nibali is at his bests: slower approach, only heads of states remaining, and full battle with no or little domestiques help. Think about Tour 2015: nowhere on PSM with Sunweb Sky drilling, but probably the second best climber on the Alps.

Back to reality. Kelderman looks unbeatable. But I struggle to believe there are other two riders stronger than him on the Stelvio or Izoard.