Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Valv.Piti]

Pellizotti and Nibali will kill it on Tuesday, all out, desperation attack now.

 

[Climbing]

Well, monoclimb stages do not really suit Nibali (especially the later one).
Multiple climbs stages at high altitude usually are his thing, but honestly these bonks are a very bad sign.

I won't discard his chances even now though, a mistake that many riders made in the past. :lol:

 

[carolina]

Nibali should have paced himself like Pinot did.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Once again a Dutch guy owns Nibali. But this performance was much better compared to last years.
I expect a similar performance to last year in the third week but may not be enough to win the Giro.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nibali's and Contador's mentality are very equal, holding on for their lives until blowing up.

 

[portugal11]

Re:

Nibali's and Contador's mentality are very equal, holding on for their lives until blowing up.

Champion mentality...

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I wouldn't be surprised if he attacks tomorrow. The descent from Selvino is very technical.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I wouldn't be surprised if he attacks tomorrow. The descent from Selvino is very technical.

I would be disappointed if he doesn't, he has to gain time where he is better than Tom and Stoneface.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I wouldn't be surprised if he attacks tomorrow. The descent from Selvino is very technical.

That's the only think that prevents me from not watching what otherwise it's a poor stage for a weekend

 

[Ivan_Basso_77]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

I wouldn't be surprised if he attacks tomorrow. The descent from Selvino is very technical.

I would be disappointed if he doesn't, he has to gain time where he is better than Tom and Stoneface.

He will definitely need teammates or other people to help in front, though. Between the bottom of Selvino and the start to Bergamo Alta we have 11-12 flat kilometers...

 

[Tonton]

Re: Nibali discussion thread

Nibali won't quit. He's in it to win it. But he can't blow himself up: that's too times now, and he paid the price big time. TBH, I can't see him win the Giro right now.

 

[Jspear]

Nah, I can't see him winning it either. But he will try. He has said he would be happy with a podium finish.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Nah, I can't see him winning it either. But he will try. He has said he would be happy with a podium finish.

He will ride to win, whether that will bring him only a podium finish or worse. About yesterday he spoke before today's stage. He said he could not have done more, Dumo was stratospheric he's been told Tom's time was only 15 sec. slower than Pantani's (in fact it was 30 sec as per Jens attack blog) a VAM of 1850. Sensations were good but he was going full gas from the beginning, violent pace set by Dumo and with 1.5 k "went into acid (lactic)" and could not pedal anymore. Tom can gain 3sec/km in the final TT, have to take around 2 mins deficit in consideration, also Quintana is in difficulty in respect to Tom. Let's see the last week.

 

[Carols]

I'd rather see him ride to win and finish wherever he finishes than ride for a podium. It remains to be seen if Major Tom can cope with multi mountain stages and Nairo showed some weakness! Forza Vincenzo!!!

 

[Alexandre B.]

He tried but that wasn't really convincing.

Last rest day tomorrow, last stages to make a splash in this Giro for Nibali.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

He tried but that wasn't really convincing.

Last rest day tomorrow, last stages to make a splash in this Giro for Nibali.

I actually think that attack looked pretty strong. I think he might have gotten away if Pozzo hadn't sticked to his wheel.

Edit: What I don't get is why he didn't put pressure on his rivals on the descent. Quintana crashed on the first descent and I think it was a very sportsmanlike move from the peloton to let him come back, but if there is another extremely technical downhill section only a few kilometers later thats almost an invitation to drop Quintana there. At least I doubt that Nairo would have taken big risks after he had already crashed once.

 

[ice&fire]

Re: Re:

He tried but that wasn't really convincing.

Last rest day tomorrow, last stages to make a splash in this Giro for Nibali.

I actually think that attack looked pretty strong. I think he might have gotten away if Pozzo hadn't sticked to his wheel.

Edit: What I don't get is why he didn't put pressure on his rivals on the descent. Quintana crashed on the first descent and I think it was a very sportsmanlike move from the peloton to let him come back, but if there is another extremely technical downhill section only a few kilometers later thats almost an invitation to drop Quintana there. At least I doubt that Nairo would have taken big risks after he had already crashed once.

Well, Nairo took the risk to sprint...

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

He tried but that wasn't really convincing.

Last rest day tomorrow, last stages to make a splash in this Giro for Nibali.

I actually think that attack looked pretty strong. I think he might have gotten away if Pozzo hadn't sticked to his wheel.

Edit: What I don't get is why he didn't put pressure on his rivals on the descent. Quintana crashed on the first descent and I think it was a very sportsmanlike move from the peloton to let him come back, but if there is another extremely technical downhill section only a few kilometers later thats almost an invitation to drop Quintana there. At least I doubt that Nairo would have taken big risks after he had already crashed once.

Well, Nairo took the risk to sprint...

I wouldn't call sprinting out of a 10 men group a big risk

 

[Carols]

Well he gave it a Go! The man hasn't laid down arms so maybe some real strength will come into those legs or the others will tire badly, possibly both will happen.

 

[SafeBet]

I also think he looked good today. He could have made a difference if the stage had a couple more hills.
Let's wait for tuesday. I'm not gonna write him off as last year.

 

[Climbing]

I liked his attack today tbh, hopefully he will deliver in the hard endurance stages to come.

 

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

He tried but that wasn't really convincing.

Last rest day tomorrow, last stages to make a splash in this Giro for Nibali.

I actually think that attack looked pretty strong. I think he might have gotten away if Pozzo hadn't sticked to his wheel.

Edit: What I don't get is why he didn't put pressure on his rivals on the descent. Quintana crashed on the first descent and I think it was a very sportsmanlike move from the peloton to let him come back, but if there is another extremely technical downhill section only a few kilometers later thats almost an invitation to drop Quintana there. At least I doubt that Nairo would have taken big risks after he had already crashed once.

I don't get the lack of action in Selvino too. I think he might have feared Orica, Sunweb and Movistar ganging up against him and his attacking teammate(s) but still inexcusable for him.

 

[Rollthedice]

The descent was too dangerous to go all out before the decisive week and he had nobody in front, there were 11k on the flat as we saw the break was caught. He looked good on the steep ramp and throughout the whole fast stage, he has the shape to properly tackle the Alps and the Dolomites.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Yeah, that was the best attack we have seen from him in a long time. Etna and Bagno de Romagno were pretty toothless and he held on for deer life on Blockhaus and Oropa.

Considering just how good Dumoulin has been so far, I'd say Nibali finds himself in a pretty decent spot right now.

 

[huge]

I think Nibali's attack today was pretty strong. He tried and tried again along the descent that followed, but was not able to get a gap.

Attacking on the Selvino descent would have been simply moronic.
Risking his Giro for what? Gaining 15 secs if everything went perfectly well, being caught on the last 10km more probably, after having wasted a huge amount of energy for nothing?