- Aug 16, 2011
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maxmartin said:
Nibali does well with a little rain though, he swims away from the competition.
I'm thinking Martin will take the TT, Nibali top 3. With 7 minutes I could see Nibali taking some time to celebrate in the final few hundred meters like Contador at 2011 Giro.
- May 19, 2011
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Afrank said:Nibali does well with a little rain though, he swims away from the competition.
I'm thinking Martin will take the TT, Nibali top 3. With 7 minutes I could see Nibali taking some time to celebrate in the final few hundred meters like Contador at 2011 Giro.
agree, I think you are pretty much on the spot.
Netserk said:
Well, Evans did a 2nd/4th Tour/Vuelta in 2007, Sastre did 2 podium/podium Tour/Vuelta doubles, JRod did a 3rd/4th Tour/Vuelta last year. Interestingly, none of them ever did a decent Giro/Tour combo. Menchov did a 5th/3rd Giro/Tour in 2008, Basso in 2005 looked like winning the Giro before his illness/whatever happened. Nevertheless I can't recall any of the other Italians (Simoni, Garzelli, Savoldelli, Di Luca, ...) who rode hard the Giro doing anything in the Tour.
In a way, I think it's perhaps fair to say that a double hasn't been done yet in modern cycling. It's hard to take seriously anything done in the 90's and there's a clear difference between now and the pre-EPO days avg speeds, suggesting that these are different eras.
Paragraph-EDIT: Clarification - I mean a Tour/Whatever double. Giro/Vuelta is clearly possible.
Going by that list above, a Tour/Vuelta double seems more doable? Would be interesting if Nibbles tried his legs at the Vuelta this year. Surely, it would tell him something about his capabilities of riding two GTs and about what sort of form can he hit in his 2nd GT of the year. Moreover, not to disrespect the rest of the field, but if Contador/Froome/Quintana are all focusing on the Tour next year then perhaps he doesn't need to be at his absolute best to contend for the win.
Afrank said:
Yeah, I was thinking top 5, but with Spartacus/Froome/Contador all gone, a top 3 is very very doable. Which means even a win is within the realm of possibility, after all, everybody's been tellin' me that Nibbles is the luckiest rider ever, so Martin might have like 3 consecutive mechanicals or something.
I truly enjoyed his TDF performance. Sure it would be better with Contador and Froome around but either way everything from the cobble stage to the mountain attacks was just great. And the best part about watching Nib riding in yellow is that we dont have to watch that ugliest version of the Italian national jersey.
- May 5, 2011
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Jancouver said:
Wait for Lombarida my friend. To see the italian championships jersey swim away from the rest of the peloton
- May 20, 2009
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Nibali: "I wanted to leave a mark in the Pyrenees"
http://biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=73686
"Rather than proving that I was the strongest, I wanted the stage win. Hautacam was in my memory from last time I climbed it [2008 TdF]. I tooked at it as a mountain time trial"
http://biciciclismo.com/cas/site/noticias-ficha.asp?id=73686
"Rather than proving that I was the strongest, I wanted the stage win. Hautacam was in my memory from last time I climbed it [2008 TdF]. I tooked at it as a mountain time trial"
- Jun 2, 2013
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the_cutter said:
It definitely is. Pantani was an exception. He always said that his favourite race was the Tour, and not being invited back to the Tour after that bittersweet 2000 edition (Leblanc claimed he was a finished rider when he was asked about his exclusion; a pretty weird statement, considering he had won two MTF stages the year before, even soloing like in his glory days in Courchevel) has been one of the reasons of the worsening of his depression, according to many people.
Other than Pantani, I can't think of other Italian riders who really love the Tour more than the Giro. Some of them sometimes skipped the Giro to prepare for the Tour (like Gianni Bugno in 1992, or Basso until 2005), but mostly because they recognized that it was the most important race in the word, not because of personal preference.
On the other hand, there are some Italian riders who apparently never performed in the Tour as well as they did in the Giro because they didn't "feel" the race in the same way (Simoni was one of them).
In Nibali's case, he has always said that the Giro was his favourite race. Also, people here sort of complained when he announced he would skip the Giro this year, and they definitely expect him to come back next year.
Obviously, if I were him, I wouldn't give a f*** about what journalists want me to, and he probably will decide on his own, but I think he really wants to come back to the Giro.
Nibs on the Giro Tour double would be great to see. And the 3 people who would be happiest to see it would be............AC, Froome, Quintana. A tired Tour champ coming in would be great! Also throw in some really nasty Giro weather would do wonders for his Tour legs
- Apr 16, 2014
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Rollthedice said:
That (Giro-Tour) thing is a nice fantasy, to me, too. I'd be happy if they both target the Tour and go for the 2015 rematch in their best forms possible and settle the burning questions once and for all
Feels to me like Nibali will ride Giro. Seems that is where his heart is (how do I know?) - but Astana may have different ideas. Anyway, AC was in such good form this past spring and Nibali appears to have gauged his peak right, realistically, who knows if both of them can be in such good form at the same time again. Would be great, though. We can hope but the new generation of climbers is catching the older guys fast
- Aug 4, 2010
- 11,337
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Exactly what I do not want.I want Nibali to go against the best fair and square at Tour.Netserk said:
with exception if the others will ride Giro too
Hope Nibali will drop this stupid ideea with Giro-Tour double. TDF and only TDF for next year, hope so
Eshnar said:
He already won Giro, but if he want to struggle like Roland here for the top10 then yes, he can do that.
- Jan 27, 2012
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- May 5, 2011
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Hope he never does another tour, so the Froome and AC fans has to continue crying "Oh, but he wouldn't have win if this had happend, or this!!"
Nibali the biggest troll in the cycling universe
Nibali the biggest troll in the cycling universe
Hope he will never get a yellow jersey with astana again. What is that ugly thing he is wearing ? That can't be a leader's award more like a punishment.
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