Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Climbing]

Sure he can, 3rd Giro and 2nd at the Vuelta against great competition in both, plus 2 stage wins.
But I would put in a lot more one day races for sure, I think that's the plan anyway.

 

[Gigs_98]

He simply wasn't strong enough. When he didn't attack right at the beginning of the steep part like in 2013 it was already clear he doesn't have a great day and will get dropped. All in all a good Vuelta, a 2nd place overall and a stage win. Not perfect but could have been clearly worse.

 

[movingtarget]

I think his form is a few percent off his best similar to the Giro form. I thought he would gain a little time back today but he didn't have the legs. Two podiums in a season is good and with the team he has. Next year's Tour could be a really good one. Froome still looked weaker this year than previous years. I think this year's Vuelta had a lot of tired riders which is why Contador and Froome came out of the Tour and could still be effective.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Unfortunately Nibali could not find the win today but he managed to secure his 10th GT podium which is very impressive. Hopefully he will go to Lombardia and win there. Good luck Vincenzo

 

[Rollthedice]

Grande Vuelta. 10th GT podium finish, 13 GT stages win, together with Hinault, Merckx, Anquetil and Gimondi he has the jersey, stage win and podium in all three GTs.

 

[skippo12]

For a guy that most people think is on the decline the year wasn`t that bad:
3rd Giro + stage
2nd Vuelta + stage
1st Tour of Croatia

Overall he was 2:55 behind for the Vuelta/Giro double.

Most riders would kill for a palmares like this. The only better stage racers this year were Froome and TommyD...no one else has a case over him.
Only negative aspect is that this year he lacked his shark-level super form on 1-2 stages of a Grand Tour...with the extra level he would have won at least one Grand Tour.
Lombardia is still to come and a win would be huge otherwise it will be the first time since 2012 for Nibali without a win in an Grand Tour or an Monument.

The Vuelta seems to be the worst Grand Tour for him profil wise but on the other hand most contenders aren`t at their top level late in the season. Tour might have the hardest competition but might be best suited for his diesel/stamina skills. Especially if they include another cobbled stage.
Giro is his home race and most likely the most important for him but with hard mountain stages early in the race it isn`t ideal for his form build.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Re:

For a guy that most people think is on the decline the year wasn`t that bad:
3rd Giro + stage
2nd Vuelta + stage
1st Tour of Croatia

Overall he was 2:55 behind for the Vuelta/Giro double.

Most riders would kill for a palmares like this. The only better stage racers this year were Froome and TommyD...no one else has a case over him.
Only negative aspect is that this year he lacked his shark-level super form on 1-2 stages of a Grand Tour...with the extra level he would have won at least one Grand Tour.
Lombardia is still to come and a win would be huge otherwise it will be the first time since 2012 for Nibali without a win in an Grand Tour or an Monument.

The Vuelta seems to be the worst Grand Tour for him profil wise but on the other hand most contenders aren`t at their top level late in the season. Tour might have the hardest competition but might be best suited for his diesel/stamina skills. Especially if they include another cobbled stage.
Giro is his home race and most likely the most important for him but with hard mountain stages early in the race it isn`t ideal for his form build.

If the Tour next year has lot's of climbs and lots of TT's, he would probably be the biggest rival to Froome

 

[Brullnux]

Dumoulin will probably be the biggest threat.

Disappointing, but he just wasn't strong enough. I think he potentially could've done more today, but it would've been suicidal.

 

[Lo squalo di messina]

Does anyone know what happened in that descent? People were saying he went down but he didnt have any traces of a fall

 

[SafeBet]

Shouldn't be underestimated that he crashed and bruised his ribs. I also think he was a bit spent but the crash took its toll.

 

[Climbing]

The crash ruined it a bit (it was a crash in fact), though this Froome would have been untouchable for sure.

Edit: he twitted

"Ciao Ragazzi volevo rassicurarvi sulla mia condizione dopo la caduta. qualche escoriazione e male alle costole! Per domani stringo i denti"

Translated
"Hello guys, wanted to reassure you on my status after the fall, some scratches and pain in the ribs! For tomorrow I'll grit my teeth!"

 

[SafeBet]

Yeah absolutely no way of overtaking Froome today anyway. But perhaps he could've put up a fight if he didn't crash. Hopefully those ribs aren't broken and he can ride a couple of autumn classics.

 

[Climbing]

Looks very bad, hopefully no broken ribs...

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

What a performance to still limit the damage, didn't know the fall was that serious.

Anyway, 3rd in the Giro and 2nd in the Vuelta. Beaten only by Dumoulin, Quintana and Froome. What can you do

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

What a performance to still limit the damage, didn't know the fall was that serious.

Anyway, 3rd in the Giro and 2nd in the Vuelta. Beaten only by Dumoulin, Quintana and Froome. What can you do

I suppose it tells is that even if he's getting worse with age, he's been on a similar level to last year. I mean, last year he only beat Chaves and Valverde, this year it has been more impressive.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Last year he outclassed by effin Kruijswijk. No comparison to this year. He's much better

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

What a performance to still limit the damage, didn't know the fall was that serious.

Anyway, 3rd in the Giro and 2nd in the Vuelta. Beaten only by Dumoulin, Quintana and Froome. What can you do

I suppose it tells is that even if he's getting worse with age, he's been on a similar level to last year. I mean, last year he only beat Chaves and Valverde, this year it has been more impressive.

Not if he would've won the Olympic Gold. There were only 11.5 km left.

 

[skippo12]

What will he do next year?
Tireno, Lüttich, Dauphine, Tour, World?

 

[Rollthedice]

Re:

What a performance to still limit the damage, didn't know the fall was that serious.

Anyway, 3rd in the Giro and 2nd in the Vuelta. Beaten only by Dumoulin, Quintana and Froome. What can you do

Looking back those 9 seconds to Quintana bother me the most, no contest to Dumo and Frumi.

 

[Red Rick]

That picture makes me sad.

Honestly I think the year has been tough and frustrating for Nibali. He's a man of pride, but despite not giving a *** about 2nd or 3rd he hasn't really had the legs to attack, or he hasn't really gotten a chance to make it a mano á mano battle.

I hope he's got a few big years left. Cycling needs him now more than ever, and I'm not too happy about him doing the Tour next year. On the other hand, the Tour does suit him better than the Vuelta.

 

[Climbing]

The program should be Liegi, Tour, Worlds.
Yes we just lost Contador, hopefully he does have some more years!

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

That picture makes me sad.

Honestly I think the year has been tough and frustrating for Nibali. He's a man of pride, but despite not giving a **** about 2nd or 3rd he hasn't really had the legs to attack, or he hasn't really gotten a chance to make it a mano á mano battle.

I hope he's got a few big years left. Cycling needs him now more than ever, and I'm not too happy about him doing the Tour next year. On the other hand, the Tour does suit him better than the Vuelta.

If he gets Visconti, Ion, Gorka and Delfino as domestiques (and maybe Cink), then I'm ok with him riding the Tour (that would probably mean that Pozzovivo would be the team leader at the Giro and that's always great news), but his big goal for 2018 is the WC RR, he already said that he wants to win it badly.
Of course I'd love to see the old Nibali who was animating one day races durning the spring once again, but that's not realistic.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

The problem is, Nibali wants to attack but with a team like Sky there is nowhere to go. And his own team is not strong enough to set up an ambush, basically all he has is Pellizotti

If Bahrein strengthen their team significantly for the climbs and can send up man in the attack before Nibali links up with them, he could do some old school classic ***. But He's not getting any younger and soon Sky will not be the only one with a mountain train that churns out 400w all the time

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Last year he outclassed by effin Kruijswijk. No comparison to this year. He's much better

I don't know... This year he's more consistent, that's sure, but better... He won Il Giro and would get Olympic medal without that crash, maybe even Gold. And Kruijswijk was a beast last year. Chaves was 2nd and 3rd in two GT's and won Lombardia, this year's Chavito has nothing to do with last year's one. And Valverde is always Valverde.

 

[bambino]

Re:

The problem is, Nibali wants to attack but with a team like Sky there is nowhere to go. And his own team is not strong enough to set up an ambush, basically all he has is Pellizotti

If Bahrein strengthen their team significantly for the climbs and can send up man in the attack before Nibali links up with them, he could do some old school classic ****. But He's not getting any younger and soon Sky will not be the only one with a mountain train that churns out 400w all the time

Yeah. I hope Bahrain will have Pozzo as Giro lead, then Pozzo and Ion as Doms for Nibs in the Tour. Ion leading Vuelta. They should sign one more high class mountain dom for next year and maybe Pellizzotti has one more year in his legs, he rather impressed me in this Vuelta. That would be at least somewhat credible team to hunt Froome, BigTom and Nairo.

Edit: + of course less than 50km of TT and cobbles