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Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

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18-Valve. (pithy)

May 4, 2011
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Carols said:
Thoughts......

Nibali defended marvelously. His team looked weak and he was basically glued on Alberto's wheel for the final 12km all by himself. There was a yellow helmet peeking through every once in a while back there but Nibali will need more team support than this very soon.

I've bred and raced thoroughbreds. There are a couple of saying that apply. Nibili was 'blowing hard' at the finish, he was used up. Alberto 'wouldn't blow out a match'; not taking a deep breath. Also in the slow mo replay it showed Nibs shake his head after the stage as if to say 'damn that man made my life hell I'm glad that is over'.

On the bigger climbs Nibs will be dropped it appears. He will hang on and fight desperately. The question is: is his cushion big enough? He needs to be in total defense mode, 2:30 is a Big spread!

BTW it is agony watching your 2 favs go mano a mano!!
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2:30 is not a big advantage with 6 serious mountain stages coming up.

Contador has it in the bag, if he can stay on his bike.
 
MBotero

MBotero

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Nibali doing a Valverde,on a Valverde finish,better than the master.Now that was very impressive, i kinda start liking the guy more,even i'm not a fan of him.I hope he's s gonna match Contador in the big mountains too.
 
Publicus

Publicus

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Carols said:
Thoughts......

Nibali defended marvelously. His team looked weak and he was basically glued on Alberto's wheel for the final 12km all by himself. There was a yellow helmet peeking through every once in a while back there but Nibali will need more team support than this very soon.

I've bred and raced thoroughbreds. There are a couple of saying that apply. Nibili was 'blowing hard' at the finish, he was used up. Alberto 'wouldn't blow out a match'; not taking a deep breath. Also in the slow mo replay it showed Nibs shake his head after the stage as if to say 'damn that man made my life hell I'm glad that is over'.

On the bigger climbs Nibs will be dropped it appears. He will hang on and fight desperately. The question is: is his cushion big enough? He needs to be in total defense mode, 2:30 is a Big spread!

BTW it is agony watching your 2 favs go mano a mano!!
Click to expand...

seems like a very apt analogy. very apt.
 
maxmartin

maxmartin

May 19, 2011
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Carols said:
Oh he was, cheeks puffing out blowing. Watch it again, it happens.
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yet never leave the saddle, btw he is a little under the weather I think, because you can see him blowing his nose multiple times during the race. Hope it is not a big deal!
 
yespatterns

yespatterns

Aug 15, 2012
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maxmartin said:
yet never leave the saddle, btw he is a little under the weather I think, because you can see him blowing his nose multiple times during the race. Hope it is not a big deal!
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Im almost wondering if he's started to get whatever is affecting birdsong so much.....
 
maxmartin

maxmartin

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yespatterns said:
Im almost wondering if he's started to get whatever is affecting birdsong so much.....
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it is possible virus can be very contagious, and they raced in the rain so much. just hope there is nothing serious
 
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the_cutter

May 28, 2010
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18-Valve. (pithy) said:
2:30 is not a big advantage with 6 serious mountain stages coming up.

Contador has it in the bag, if he can stay on his bike.
Click to expand...

Well, lets not jump to conclusions after a first mountain-ish stage. We don't know the true climbing hierarchy yet and some people will get stronger for the 3rd week. Maybe Nibbles has still a little room to go.

No doubt that Contador in top shape is a better climber and we know that he will attack on all 6 stages if necessary. Nibbles needs to somehow hang with him at least twice I think and do a very good damage limitation on the rest. Still, it may be necessary for Astana to try something creative. With the fog and rain today Nibbles could have possibly caused some havoc, but with Birdsong supposedly sick they probably decided to take it easy. Hopefully, Fugs improves and gives Astana options.
 
maxmartin

maxmartin

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the_cutter said:
Well, lets not jump to conclusions after a first mountain-ish stage. We don't know the true climbing hierarchy yet and some people will get stronger for the 3rd week. Maybe Nibbles has still a little room to go.

No doubt that Contador in top shape is a better climber and we know that he will attack on all 6 stages if necessary. Nibbles needs to somehow hang with him at least twice I think and do a very good damage limitation on the rest. Still, it may be necessary for Astana to try something creative. With the fog and rain today Nibbles could have possibly caused some havoc, but with Birdsong supposedly sick they probably decided to take it easy. Hopefully, Fugs improves and gives Astana options.
Click to expand...

don't think so , after the stage 5 Nibali said he will stop taking too much risk. The plan is hang on in the MTF, and blow AC away in the ITT.
 
T

the_cutter

May 28, 2010
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maxmartin said:
don't think so , after the stage 5 Nibali said he will stop taking too much risk. The plan is hang on in the MTF, and blow AC away in the ITT.
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Yeah, yeah, as if they tell it straight up in the interviews. :p Mind games, I'll believe that what I see on the road.

I admit that I might be a tad overexcited with Nibbles in yellow with a decent time advantage. Waiting for the first proper MTF and then cooking up a strategy is probably a wiser move than thinking about a rag-tag attacks in wet descents. :D
 
Carols

Carols

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maxmartin said:
yet never leave the saddle, btw he is a little under the weather I think, because you can see him blowing his nose multiple times during the race. Hope it is not a big deal!
Click to expand...

I just watched the final km again. Nibali was out of the saddle 4 times to stay with Alberto and he does 3 cheek puffs. After the line in slo mo replay he does 2 more cheek puffs and shakes his head. He was pretty maxed out IMO. I hope it is just because of the weather and some clogged nasal passages!
 
Afrank

Afrank

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Carols said:
I just watched the final km again. Nibali was out of the saddle 4 times to stay with Alberto and he does 3 cheek puffs. After the line in slo mo replay he does 2 more cheek puffs and shakes his head. He was pretty maxed out IMO. I hope it is just because of the weather and some clogged nasal passages!
Click to expand...

Do you have a link that video Carols? I found a video earlier but it ended too soon after they crossed the line.
 
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Samson

Sep 25, 2011
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I wonder why Kangert was asked to drop back? Is the team trying to play with two cards? He looked surprisingly good cosidering that he had pretty nasty crash yesterday. Maybe could of been more useful to Nibali. Nibali's finish makes me worry a bit but hopefully there's nothing to worry about.
 
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