Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Rollthedice]

Re:

Where's the flair gone?

Well, today all the flair of all the riders combined including Contador went down the drain, Sky decided it will be an uphill sprint and that's what it was. Sky killed the flair, that's where it's gone.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

Too bad, expected to lose a bit, not 20 secs.
Hopefully he doesn't give up with a descent coming tomorrow and all to play on the last stage.

Don't worry. He'll recoup that tomorrow!

 

[huge]

He is not going to waste energies tomorrow.
Now it's all about Sat and the Angliru.

But honestly I think Vincenzo's chances are close to zero.
The only chance is Froome cracking badly, which I really don't see happening.

Second place will still be a great result. Alone against a team of aliens... who knows what would have been if Froome didn't have such a strong team around

 

[Red Rick]

He's not trying tomorrow. But Contador will, and so everyone will have to try and follow

 

[Climbing]

Mhh, looked smashed in the interview for Gazzetta yesterday, hopefully he can recover to give it all on Angliru stage.

 

[Rollthedice]

In the end these 21 sec don't mean too much, it was a climb where he needed to defend so it was expected he'll loose time. OK, should've been maybe 10 sec. less but the main disappointment was that Frumi bounced back. But then again, him sprinting up muritos proved to be his speciality during this Vuelta. On longer multi-mountain stages he was on the defence helped by his team to draw with Nibs, except when a team is mostly useless as was seen on steep longer, cold, wet climb like Machucos where he was outclassed by Vincenzo. So logically, all things considered it will all come down to Angliru stage which should be a nightmare for Frumi and where Nibali, if he has the legs, will prevail. 1'16 was a big gap, now it's 21 sec more but nothing is definitely lost. The terrain and the weather conditions are there.

 

[Robert5091]

If nibs can get over the last short climb at the front he could gain some seconds. It's going to rain from Friday night until Sunday so look out!

 

[portugal11]

Re:

In the end these 21 sec don't mean too much, it was a climb where he needed to defend so it was expected he'll loose time. OK, should've been maybe 10 sec. less but the main disappointment was that Frumi bounced back. But then again, him sprinting up muritos proved to be his speciality during this Vuelta. On longer multi-mountain stages he was on the defence helped by his team to draw with Nibs, except when a team is mostly useless as was seen on steep longer, cold, wet climb like Machucos where he was outclassed by Vincenzo. So logically, all things considered it will all come down to Angliru stage which should be a nightmare for Frumi and where Nibali, if he has the legs, will prevail. 1'16 was a big gap, now it's 21 sec more but nothing is definitely lost. The terrain and the weather conditions are there.

I disagree with you. Today nibali suffered a huge blow in his chances of winning la vuelta. If he managed to follow froome, he would know that he is stronger than him because this stage was perfect for froome and sky. I think he can take a minute on angliru but 1.37? I don't think so...

 

[hazaran]

Re:

If nibs can get over the last short climb at the front he could gain some seconds. It's going to rain from Friday night until Sunday so look out!

Well that's a very positive interpretation, if anything today showed he is at risk of being dropped on that last steep pitch if someone like Contador turns up the power.

 

[skippo12]

If Nibali wants to stay competitive in the coming years he needs to find a way to limit time loses on murito finishes and single mountain efforts.
An all time great stamina isn`t enough to compete against riders with a higher lactat tolerance that produce 400+ watts on short climbs.
At his age he won`t be able to improve his anaerobic ability so he most likely will need a different approach for those finishes.

On the long and hard mountain stages he was the second strongest rider in the peleton and his time trial was good as well but without a team that can set a an extremly high pace on the long climbs he isn`t getting enough out of his superior ability.
Remember how Smzyd paced Basso in the mountains. Pace was incredible high and only the best diesel climbers could follow. Basso didn`t even need an acceleration and dropped everybody just continuing with a high pace.
Maybe next year Pozzovivo can do the job for him but this year only Pelizotti (on 1-2 stages) was able to hurt other GC guys.

I think that switching teams with Froome Nibali would easily win this Vuelta. He wouldn`t use the train for defense only and bury Froome on his bad day. Froome needs his train because his stamina isn`t as great but his lactat tolerance and max watt effort for 5-10 minutes is the best of all GC riders.

 

[Escarabajo]

He is getting older so not sure what the point is. Not much you can do about it.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

He is getting older so not sure what the point is. Not much you can do about it.

Yeah Contador's decline was more apparent even though he is doing a great Vuelta but Froome and Nibali have also declined to a lesser degree. Next year could have some interesting results in the GTs, another generation change is in process.

 

[Oliver]

It's over, Froome wins. Expected some time loss yesterday but with only Angliru left... Please, a stage win @ Angliru!

 

[Climbing]

With bad weather coming there is a small chance.
If Froome has a Los Muchachos day and Nibali has a good day on Angliru it is certainly still possible.
Unlikely with the large buffer, would be a close call even in best case scenario.

Most of all I'm not completely sure about Nibali formm but I guess fatigue must be huge for everybody.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I think what works against Nibali is that he has no team. Or not what he used to have. He could set up teammates and ride towards them on a downhill. Now Bahrein is to weak to keep that up. So there's no real chance he can do something unless Sky implodes

 

[Climbing]

Indeed that is a evident problem.
The only way now is Froome having a very bad day on Angliru in bad weather and a Nibali resurgence “Froome style”.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Indeed that is a evident problem.
The only way now is Froome having a very bad day on Angliru in bad weather and a Nibali resurgence “Froome style”.

A Nibali type resurgence from the last week of Giro 2016 could do it. He was unstoppable those last 2 days having spent most of the Giro being dropped by Kruijswijk, Chavez and co.

 

[SafeBet]

That worked only because Chaves was fading badly and Kruijswijk had no team whatsoever. Froome is safe unless the weather is absolutely brutal, I think.

 

[Oliver]

The problem is his "team", his form is great. And Sky is too good. Maybe he needs to work together with Alberto.

 

[dfromdub]

I found the clip of his interview right after the los Machucos stage and he was complaining about feeling unwell the whole day, but then he managed to find a good rhythm by the end of the stage.
He also noted that the stage had been very hard and riders were going to feel it on their legs in the following stages, which sounds like a prophecy.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

That worked only because Chaves was fading badly and Kruijswijk had no team whatsoever. Froome is safe unless the weather is absolutely brutal, I think.

You forget that he also needed time on Valverde who had a gap around what Froome has now on Nibs and of course one grande Scarponi on his side. Regarding tomorrow, the weather most certainly will be brutal and there are two descents, if he has allies up the road a suicide attack down on Cordal is not excluded. Of course Sky looks like a team impossible to break and Bahrain needs this second place maybe more than Vincenzo so he needa a blance between risking all or trying to break Froome in the last 7 Km. Let's not forget that Contador needs about same amount of time that Froome has on Nibali to get on the podium and I'm sure he wants that.

 

[jsem94]

Massive rain and thunderstorm forecasts for Saturday. The Shark will swim.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Indeed that is a evident problem.
The only way now is Froome having a very bad day on Angliru in bad weather and a Nibali resurgence “Froome style”.

A Nibali type resurgence from the last week of Giro 2016 could do it. He was unstoppable those last 2 days having spent most of the Giro being dropped by Kruijswijk, Chavez and co.

No he wasn't those stages were super hard but SK broke a rib so he was limited. Chaves isn't stellar in those super hard stages with 3 or 4 HC mountains. Valverde barely lost seconds to nibali in the last mountain stage. Nibali wasn't so great, like many pretend to say.
Nibali has to attack before the angliru, don't ask me how but he have to try somewhere and hope to drop froome. With rain, it is possible.

 

[Lv426]

One day he's good another he's bad, he's obviously does not recover consistently well. You never know what's going to happen. He could still win .It won't be the first time he's turned things around.

 

[dacooley]

any effective ambush always relies on a strong team which is a real issue. As to chaves allegedly weaking in risoul andlombarda, I disagree. Nibs made the whole field crack with that imperious riding. sadly, that was the only flashback of glorious 2014 tour form since then.