Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[rm7]

Re:

Everybody shooting at Nibali, despite him being the only one racing the classics.

Contador is nowhere to be seen.
Quintana? He entered... did he race as well?
Froome... we need to buy him stabilizers.
Nibali? AMR 65th... FV 20th... LBL 13th nothing memorable, but the sheer amount of criticism he is getting is totally unjustified, imo.

What a bad post.

Contador - Peaking for 2 GT's, and did OKAY in Ruta de sol, TA and Catalounya.
Froome - Crash/Illness, otherwise he would have won some races or show high level. And did well in Ruta del sol
Quintana - Did a peak for the TA, but yeah otherwise he have been bad
Nibali - *** all spring

 

[rm7]

I think the Nibali attack today was pathetic. Why even bother such a weak attack, when your own teammate is in front of the race? It's would've been okay if it was a STRONG attack, where he blew up the race and just rode past Fuglsang, Kreuziger and Caruso. All he did was close the gap, or some of it.

 

[SafeBet]

Re:

The comparison with Quintana makes no sense at all. Quintana never said LBL was a goal for him, Nibbles did it multiple times. I don't think his performance was as weak as some are describing it though.
Truth is Nibali needs to be 100% to be competitive in such races. If he's 80% he'll be beaten by at least a dozen riders in almost every possible scenario, unless he has a very strong teammate (say a Valverde or a Purito) and can play the role of a Giampa Caruso.
Let's hope he misses the podium in the TdF. Could bode well for his career in the future.

I think the Nibali attack today was pathetic. Why even bother such a weak attack, when your own teammate is in front of the race? It's would've been okay if it was a STRONG attack, where he blew up the race and just rode past Fuglsang, Kreuziger and Caruso. All he did was close the gap, or some of it.

The gap was going to be closed anyway.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

The comparison with Quintana makes no sense at all. Quintana never said LBL was a goal for him, Nibbles did it multiple times. I don't think his performance was as weak as some are describing it though.
Truth is Nibali needs to be 100% to be competitive in such races. If he's 80% he'll be beaten by at least a dozen riders in almost every possible scenario, unless he has a very strong teammate (say a Valverde or a Purito) and can play the role of a Giampa Caruso.
Let's hope he misses the podium in the TdF. Could bode well for his career in the future.

I think the Nibali attack today was pathetic. Why even bother such a weak attack, when your own teammate is in front of the race? It's would've been okay if it was a STRONG attack, where he blew up the race and just rode past Fuglsang, Kreuziger and Caruso. All he did was close the gap, or some of it.

The gap was going to be closed anyway.

I think it was, i use the past years as a comparison. Look at 2012, what he did in the classics (the tour was also his goal then) and this nibali got better right? At 100% he's better than 3 years ago and look what he has become.

It is really sad. It's just bad, no way going around it. And since it's the second year in a row, i'm afraid it's not a fluke, only 1 peak. That's it.

RIP Nibali 2007-2013.

 

[Pippo_San]

All these disappointed comments are hilarious tho.
Can't wait to see the Shark destroy everyone come July, first flattening the Mur de Huy and de Bretagne, and then conquering the Pyrenees.
The Alps will be just showboating.

 

[Miburo]

Re:

All these disappointed comments are hilarious tho.
Can't wait to see the Shark destroy everyone come July, first flattening the Mur de Huy and de Bretagne, and then conquering the Pyrenees.
The Alps will be just showboating.

No one is denying that he'll be amazing in july hence the disappointment. Besides he won't destroy the tour like last year if the competition doesn't crash.

I expect at least 2 of the big 4 to crash in the first week.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re:

This year maybe, but in the past I think Contador could have fit Ardennes in (I mean other gt riders have, even in recent times), or in the years he did the Vuelta, he could have tried Lombardia or the worlds ( he entered them but spent all day smiling at the camera)

Thats true, I think he doesnt care about them cuz he knows he isnt good classics cyclist.I dont believe he would have been good at classics if he peaked for them.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

This year maybe, but in the past I think Contador could have fit Ardennes in (I mean other gt riders have, even in recent times), or in the years he did the Vuelta, he could have tried Lombardia or the worlds ( he entered them but spent all day smiling at the camera)

Thats true, I think he doesnt care about them cuz he knows he isnt good classics cyclist.I dont believe he would have been good at classics if he peaked for them.

He was amongst the 3 best in FW and LBL in 2010, which was not one of his greatest years, in his only serious attempt

 

[SeriousSam]

The complete absence of a sprint would have made victory very hard though.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re:

The complete absence of a sprint would have made victory very hard though.

He could have won FW had he timed his attack a bit better. I agree that a LBL win would have been really hard though.

 

[Miburo]

Re: Re:

The complete absence of a sprint would have made victory very hard though.

He could have won FW had he timed his attack a bit better. I agree that a LBL win would have been really hard though.

He couldn't, he couldn't follow wellens, that was obvious

 

[LaFlorecita]

Re: Re:

The complete absence of a sprint would have made victory very hard though.

He could have won FW had he timed his attack a bit better. I agree that a LBL win would have been really hard though.

He couldn't, he couldn't follow wellens, that was obvious

I thought SeriousSam's post was a reply to the post above his

 

[Netserk]

In 2009 he could probably have followed Andy and I'd say he can outsprint him.

edit: Sorry, LaFlo's post caused me to think this was the Alberto thread

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Also a far point mentioning that Quintana is absolutely nowhere. We admonish Nibali for doing Tour peaks when there are worse offenders. But of course, unlike the other Big 3, it seems Nibali could actually have success in hilly one day races if he took them seriously.

Nibali has one upped Andy by not producing at all until the Tour. At least Andy would appear in the Ardennes.
As far as the Nibali-Quintana comparison, Quintana has a major stage race victory under his belt this year. Nibali is putting all his eggs in one basket like a certain disgraced rider.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

All these disappointed comments are hilarious tho.
Can't wait to see the Shark destroy everyone come July, first flattening the Mur de Huy and de Bretagne, and then conquering the Pyrenees.
The Alps will be just showboating.

This sounds more like some wet dream that you've been having on a nightly basis than anything that will actually happen.

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

The ardennes are a risk, Contador recognizes his chances are far greater in a GT. Winning LBL doesn't make his season a good one, so he's better off riding stage races that are probably better preperation for the GT's anyway, not to mention that it's suicide trying to peak for ardennes + Giro + Tour

Winning LBL would make his career look much complete, he would stand among the cycling immortals like Merckx, Coppi, Hinault, Bartali... The thing is he knows he can't win one of those so he isn't trying.

 

[ray j willings]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

The ardennes are a risk, Contador recognizes his chances are far greater in a GT. Winning LBL doesn't make his season a good one, so he's better off riding stage races that are probably better preperation for the GT's anyway, not to mention that it's suicide trying to peak for ardennes + Giro + Tour

Winning LBL would make his career look much complete, he would stand among the cycling immortals like Merckx, Coppi, Hinault, Bartali... The thing is he knows he can't win one of those so he isn't trying.

I think Nibs has been racing like last year. Holding back form for the Tour.
I think he can win LBL etc. I think he needs a good win against Froome or Bertie otherwise he will always be regarded as not quite as good as the very best. I think that his is goal. Horner destroyed him in the mountains not to long ago. He needs to prove himself in the mountains against the best.

 

[ILovecycling]

Re: Re:

This year maybe, but in the past I think Contador could have fit Ardennes in (I mean other gt riders have, even in recent times), or in the years he did the Vuelta, he could have tried Lombardia or the worlds ( he entered them but spent all day smiling at the camera)

Thats true, I think he doesnt care about them cuz he knows he isnt good classics cyclist.I dont believe he would have been good at classics if he peaked for them.

He was amongst the 3 best in FW and LBL in 2010, which was not one of his greatest years, in his only serious attempt

Thats not anything astonishing imo, and like others posted, his chances for win were slim

 

[Red Rick]

People should accept that the peloton is getting more specialized. Very hard to win an Ardennes classic solo, so you need a decent sprint to have a decent chance if everyone is riding like they are and frankly that's a quality that takes away from what is truly important for a GC rider.

If it's a hole on the palmares of a GT champion when he's never won a monument then why aren't you all whining that Boonen and Cancellara (legends according to most people here) have never won a GT?

 

[SeriousSam]

Quite true, it's extremely hard to be competitive in both these days. All the more reason to value it highly and consider it to be the marker of unique talent and greatness that it is. We should cherish and praise to high heavens GT champions like Andy, Cadel and Valverde who somehow have managed to combine one day racing success with stage racing success in this era of specialization

Perhaps even Wiggins if we decide to award him an honourable Paris Roubaix.

 

[Jelantik]

Re:

Think Nibali may start caring about other races when he's not reigning Tour champion anymore

I incline to think the same thing. He seems either to hold back or adopting andy's matra to show up only at TDF. Too bad. He was exciting in 2013. Now, he is just ok so far up until now. I almost forget that he was in the race when he participated.

 

[Netserk]

I hope he will race for real after the Tour this year if he doesn't win. He should be fresh enough to have a go for the Vuelta and Lombardia (Como finish this year).

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

This year maybe, but in the past I think Contador could have fit Ardennes in (I mean other gt riders have, even in recent times), or in the years he did the Vuelta, he could have tried Lombardia or the worlds ( he entered them but spent all day smiling at the camera)

Thats true, I think he doesnt care about them cuz he knows he isnt good classics cyclist.I dont believe he would have been good at classics if he peaked for them.

The one time he focused on the Ardennes he made the podium of Fleche Wallone. That to me shows he could at minimum have won one of them. I would have loved it if he had devoted more attention to the Ardennes, San Sebastian and GdL.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re: Re:

This year maybe, but in the past I think Contador could have fit Ardennes in (I mean other gt riders have, even in recent times), or in the years he did the Vuelta, he could have tried Lombardia or the worlds ( he entered them but spent all day smiling at the camera)

Thats true, I think he doesnt care about them cuz he knows he isnt good classics cyclist.I dont believe he would have been good at classics if he peaked for them.

The one time he focused on the Ardennes he made the podium of Fleche Wallone. That to me shows he could at minimum have won one of them. I would have loved it if he had devoted more attention to the Ardennes, San Sebastian and GdL.

I used to wonder why he was so bad in one day races, at least relative to his stage racing brilliance, but really it's not that hard to work out why he wouldn't invest much energy in them. He has a worse sprint than anyone he might reasonably expect to come to the end with. He could conceivably win Fleche by going earlier on the Mur than is optimal for the punchier riders, but that's a very hard way to win that race these days. Otherwise he seems to be in a similar position to Kreuziger or Nibali - winning is possible but only with a solo attack from range, which always has low odds. And why would Contador, of all riders, waste a performance peak on races where he's just one of a couple of dozen riders who could win like that?

 

[Jspear]

Re:

People should accept that the peloton is getting more specialized. Very hard to win an Ardennes classic solo, so you need a decent sprint to have a decent chance if everyone is riding like they are and frankly that's a quality that takes away from what is truly important for a GC rider.

If it's a hole on the palmares of a GT champion when he's never won a monument then why aren't you all whining that Boonen and Cancellara (legends according to most people here) have never won a GT?

This is a weak argument. Boonen and Cancellara aren't winning the monuments/classics that the GC riders race and do well in (the Ardennes.) Generally speaking to win a gt you need to climb well. Generally speaking to do well in the Ardennes classics you have to climb well (a good sprint helps to of course.) Thus we can expect GC riders to do well here but not expect Boonen or Cancellara to do well overall in a gt.