Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

its probably a south african Brent Copeland advice thing - to copy Froome ...how sad to see Nibali, one of the, if not the, greatest bike handler / rider now looking like a freak.

Nah, it's the Slongo approach to reach an absolute peak in the last week by forcing him to ride in unnatural position, unsuitable gear, wrong crank length so when he gets back to his usual he'll fly.

I think this is very close to the truth. Last time I've seen Nibali driving full long climb from the seat was certain Dauphine in 2014. And we all know what happened afterwards...

I think it was said jokingly.

That said, we definitely haven't seen the best from Nibali yet. It will shock me if he doesn't end on the podium right now and I still think he will be the biggest opponent for Quintana in the end, altho its Dumoulin now.

 

[Carols]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I don't remember clearly but he was also closing the attacks by quintana by riding elbows on the bars. I don't think i've ever seen nibali do that before either? That was some real marginal gains stuff on a 9% gradient climb.

I've seen him do it on flats in the peloton when it close to breaking into echelons.

yea sure doing it on the flats makes sense. but on a climb, especially when it's steep i found it peculiar.

I just rewatched the final 50km of stage 19 Giro 2016 (yes it and stage 20 are still on my dvr!) and Nibali was out of the saddle Plenty and there was none of this low ITT position in evidence. It was Bittersweet seeing Michele leading him until he popped .

So when did he start ITTing up mountains?

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

its probably a south african Brent Copeland advice thing - to copy Froome ...how sad to see Nibali, one of the, if not the, greatest bike handler / rider now looking like a freak.

Nah, it's the Slongo approach to reach an absolute peak in the last week by forcing him to ride in unnatural position, unsuitable gear, wrong crank length so when he gets back to his usual he'll fly.

I think this is very close to the truth. Last time I've seen Nibali driving full long climb from the seat was certain Dauphine in 2014. And we all know what happened afterwards...

Interesting!

 

[SafeBet]

Interesting points. He looked quite satisfied at the end of the stage, he probably expected Quintana to drop him.
I agree he didn't pace himself very well, but at the same time I don't think he would've been better than Pinot and Dumoulin. He probably would have finished a few seconds behind them, losing to both in the sprint.

Curious to see his TT.

 

[Rollthedice]

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

 

[Carols]

Re:

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

LOL you suckered in a few of us .

Anyway he was in a different position than I've ever seen him in for 13km of a tough MTF. The question is why?

 

[Ivan_Basso_77]

Re: Re:

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

LOL you suckered in a few of us .

Anyway he was in a different position than I've ever seen him in for 13km of a tough MTF. The question is why?

This isn't the first time we have seen Vincenzo in a TT position, while going uphill. Perhaps he is just looking for a more efficient way of pedalling, but only he knows for sure.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

It's strange. I expected Nibali to be Quintana's main rival and I thought he had a decent chance to win the giro and although he lost one minute on this climb, I'm not disappointed and somehow I don't rate his chances lower than I did two days ago. The funny thing is if you hope that a rider will win a gt but he loses a minute on the first mtf the normal reaction would be to panic and say his chances are gone, he just isn't strong enough, but for some reason I don't have this feeling. For some reason I have the feeling that even if he loses time he will find a way to get time back, just like last year although my brain tells me, thats not realistic.
I just hope my gut feeling is right

 

[bambino]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

It's strange. I expected Nibali to be Quintana's main rival and I thought he had a decent chance to win the giro and although he lost one minute on this climb, I'm not disappointed and somehow I don't rate his chances lower than I did two days ago. The funny thing is if you hope that a rider will win a gt but he loses a minute on the first mtf the normal reaction would be to panic and say his chances are gone, he just isn't strong enough, but for some reason I don't have this feeling. For some reason I have the feeling that even if he loses time he will find a way to get time back, just like last year although my brain tells me, thats not realistic.
I just hope my gut feeling is right

Exactly the same feeling that I have. All the alarm bells should tell Quintana is gone, but for somewhat reason they don't. I hope Nibs feels the same, at least after the stage he was saying that he expected Quintana to go faster in Blockhaus. So I really do think he was expecting to lose time, the questions was just how much.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

LOL you suckered in a few of us .

Anyway he was in a different position than I've ever seen him in for 13km of a tough MTF. The question is why?

This isn't the first time we have seen Vincenzo in a TT position, while going uphill. Perhaps he is just looking for a more efficient way of pedalling, but only he knows for sure.

Did he stay in that type of position for 13KM never getting out of the saddle? What race/stage is this pic from? Thanks!

 

[Carols]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

It's strange. I expected Nibali to be Quintana's main rival and I thought he had a decent chance to win the giro and although he lost one minute on this climb, I'm not disappointed and somehow I don't rate his chances lower than I did two days ago. The funny thing is if you hope that a rider will win a gt but he loses a minute on the first mtf the normal reaction would be to panic and say his chances are gone, he just isn't strong enough, but for some reason I don't have this feeling. For some reason I have the feeling that even if he loses time he will find a way to get time back, just like last year although my brain tells me, thats not realistic.
I just hope my gut feeling is right

Exactly the same feeling that I have. All the alarm bells should tell Quintana is gone, but for somewhat reason they don't. I hope Nibs feels the same, at least after the stage he was saying that he expected Quintana to go faster in Blockhaus. So I really do think he was expecting to lose time, the questions was just how much.

Tomorrow we will know a lot more. But right now I'm not alarmed either...strange. We'll see how much he loses and to who tomorrow. If he loses time to Nairo I'll get alarmed! I expect him to lose time to Major Tom and Mollema. I also expect Major Tom to lose time in the 3rd week, and Vince to be flying. Mollema doesn't scare me at all. Pinot is a Danger, he has learned to TT.

 

[Ivan_Basso_77]

Re: Re:

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

LOL you suckered in a few of us .

Anyway he was in a different position than I've ever seen him in for 13km of a tough MTF. The question is why?

This isn't the first time we have seen Vincenzo in a TT position, while going uphill. Perhaps he is just looking for a more efficient way of pedalling, but only he knows for sure.

Did he stay in that type of position for 13KM never getting out of the saddle? What race/stage is this pic from? Thanks!

Well, not for the whole climb, but then again, as far as I am concerned, Vincenzo in his best years never got out of the saddle that often either. You may correct me if I'm wrong. This is from Alto de Hazallanas, Vuelta 2013.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

It was just a supposition more as a joke but it was quite odd to not get out of the saddle once yesterday. On another note I think he looked good, poker face and breathing through the nose like in the good old days. Quintana climbed at Alpe 2015 level and to put things more in perspective similar to Froome on PSM 2015, impossible to follow. I'd say Dumoulin put in a jaw dropping performance which complicates the fight for pink but Nibs is very much in the mix after the hardest MTF this year. Here's the shark yesterday:

LOL you suckered in a few of us .

Anyway he was in a different position than I've ever seen him in for 13km of a tough MTF. The question is why?

This isn't the first time we have seen Vincenzo in a TT position, while going uphill. Perhaps he is just looking for a more efficient way of pedalling, but only he knows for sure.

Did he stay in that type of position for 13KM never getting out of the saddle? What race/stage is this pic from? Thanks!

Well, not for the whole climb, but then again, as far as I am concerned, Vincenzo in his best years never got out of the saddle that often either. You may correct me if I'm wrong. This is from Alto de Hazallanas, Vuelta 2013.

Well he was never a Contador, Pantani or Horner . But as I noted in a previous post this AM in the Giro 2016 stages 19 and 20 he was out of the saddle multiple times. Never for long, as is his style. He certainly didn't look like he did yesterday!

I'll watch the Alto de Hazallanas, Vuelta 2013; I have the race on dvd Thanks!

 

[kingjr]

He did get out of the saddle once, when he pulled back Quintana's 3rd attack, after a hairpin.

 

[Carols]

Re:

He did get out of the saddle once, when he pulled back Quintana's 3rd attack, after a hairpin.

I must have missed that . Thanks!

 

[Ivan_Basso_77]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

It's strange. I expected Nibali to be Quintana's main rival and I thought he had a decent chance to win the giro and although he lost one minute on this climb, I'm not disappointed and somehow I don't rate his chances lower than I did two days ago. The funny thing is if you hope that a rider will win a gt but he loses a minute on the first mtf the normal reaction would be to panic and say his chances are gone, he just isn't strong enough, but for some reason I don't have this feeling. For some reason I have the feeling that even if he loses time he will find a way to get time back, just like last year although my brain tells me, thats not realistic.
I just hope my gut feeling is right

Exactly the same feeling that I have. All the alarm bells should tell Quintana is gone, but for somewhat reason they don't. I hope Nibs feels the same, at least after the stage he was saying that he expected Quintana to go faster in Blockhaus. So I really do think he was expecting to lose time, the questions was just how much.

Tomorrow we will know a lot more. But right now I'm not alarmed either...strange. We'll see how much he loses and to who tomorrow. If he loses time to Nairo I'll get alarmed! I expect him to lose time to Major Tom and Mollema. I also expect Major Tom to lose time in the 3rd week, and Vince to be flying. Mollema doesn't scare me at all. Pinot is a Danger, he has learned to TT.

Lo Squalo should be able to at least halve the gap to Nairo, whereas maybe he will lose 1/1:30 minutes to Tom. Definitely tomorrow is a crucial day for his ambitions.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I just don't see how Nibali will win the Giro at this point, unless it's major luck like last year with Kruijswijk. Somehow I can't see Quintana falling as easily.

 

[portugal11]

Guys, miracles like last year won't happen this year for two reasons: quintana is a world class gt rider, a former giro champion, he is not SK... and the second reason is that movistar is 100000000000 times stronger than lotto jumbo

 

[Rollthedice]

Slongo says that Vincenzo's "motor" is better than last year, they expected to loose time on Blockhaus to Nairo, 1 minute is acceptable on those gradients that will not be met again until Milano. For the crono he expects for Nibs to gain around 30 sec on Quintana and to draw with Pinot, loosing as little as possible to Dumoulin.

 

[Red Rick]

Have little doubt that Nibali has fight in him yet. Yesterday was better than 85% of last year's Giro.

Nibali was solid

Can he be great again?

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

I predict a 20% increase in performance after every rest day, Astana style. Expect great things tomorrow.

 

[lenric]

Re:

Have little doubt that Nibali has fight in him yet. Yesterday was better than 85% of last year's Giro.

Nibali was solid

Can he be great again?

I guess the synonym question is: will Nibali's form improve more than Quintana's?

 

[Carols]

Okay I've watch the final 14kms of the Alto de Hazallanas, Vuelta 2013 stage 10. Nibs was active throughout and in the final kms was on a Rampage trying to hunt down Horner. I have No idea where that picture was taken, but I didn't see him in the elbow on bars position that is for sure.

Hopefully he has a Good day tomorrow! Forza Vincenzo!

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re:

Guys, miracles like last year won't happen this year for two reasons: quintana is a world class gt rider, a former giro champion, he is not SK... and the second reason is that movistar is 100000000000 times stronger than lotto jumbo

That is the problem. How does Nibali break movistar and then drop Quintana on the descent

 

[Jspear]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

It's strange. I expected Nibali to be Quintana's main rival and I thought he had a decent chance to win the giro and although he lost one minute on this climb, I'm not disappointed and somehow I don't rate his chances lower than I did two days ago. The funny thing is if you hope that a rider will win a gt but he loses a minute on the first mtf the normal reaction would be to panic and say his chances are gone, he just isn't strong enough, but for some reason I don't have this feeling. For some reason I have the feeling that even if he loses time he will find a way to get time back, just like last year although my brain tells me, thats not realistic.
I just hope my gut feeling is right

Exactly the same feeling that I have. All the alarm bells should tell Quintana is gone, but for somewhat reason they don't. I hope Nibs feels the same, at least after the stage he was saying that he expected Quintana to go faster in Blockhaus. So I really do think he was expecting to lose time, the questions was just how much.

Alarm bells don't go off with poor performances from Froome in April because we all know he can correct things by July.

Alarm bells don't go off with Nibbes when he shows poor form early in a GT, because he just makes things work a lot of the time...he has special powers. I don't think he'll win....but he definitely isn't out of the fight and he'll give Quintana a run for his money.