Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Also don't forget he could've / should've won the Olympics instead of GVA if he didn't fall

 

[Netserk]

Awesome and very unexpected win for Vincenzo! So very deserved after giving it a go so many times.

 

[Carols]

can somebody please give me a concrete answer to why ((Valverde)) is being discussed here on the ((NIBALI DISCUSSION THREAD))?

enough already

Because a handful of Valverde fans appear to have taken over the forum and will discuss him in any available thread.

This! I'm a Bala fan and it's getting on my nerves also.....

Meanwhile Vince is a Monster

 

[Carols]

Re:

So funny to see people are still claiming Nibali wins because he is lucky. He's the greatest bike racer since Hinault.

WOW that's a statement, History will decide. He is definitely the best all-rounder in the current peloton.

It's very irksome people still put it down to luck......

 

[Carols]

One can only imagine what would've happened if God gave him just 80% of Valverde's ability to sprint.

He probably would have evolved into a rider waiting for the sprint in most races.

I wouldn't be so sure. He has a different mentality, maybe old school romantic warrior. I don't think a better sprint would've turned him into a passive rider, unless his personality would've changed

This, the man has Panache and rides with the heart and grinta. A sprint would have made him even more deadly

 

[LaFlorecita]

We will never know, but I think it makes sense that riders with a worse sprint will be forced to be more inventive and aggressive.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

So funny to see people are still claiming Nibali wins because he is lucky. He's the greatest bike racer since Hinault.

WOW that's a statement, History will decide. He is definitely the best all-rounder in the current peloton.

It's very irksome people still put it down to luck......

I put missing that Olympic gold down to bad luck

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

So funny to see people are still claiming Nibali wins because he is lucky. He's the greatest bike racer since Hinault.

WOW that's a statement, History will decide. He is definitely the best all-rounder in the current peloton.

It's very irksome people still put it down to luck......

I'll stand by it. Unless it's a flat sprint he is a threat in any race he lines up in. No one since Hinault has been able to do that.

I just find it funny

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Nibali often makes his own luck. dobbiamo inventare qualcosa
they often say in Italiano
== We've got to invent something [in order to win]

 

[Billie]

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

 

[Blanco]

Re:

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

I know it is a wrong thread for this post, but do you really think he's better than Indurain and Contador? I think not. Also it is debatable if he's better than Bettini, Cancellara, Boonen and Valverde. I'd put them in the same league...

 

[Salvarani]

This is pretty good for Nibali. He already pretty much made his season with this win

Takes the pressure off from him and he can just keep focusing on his targets. I also like the trend he is on. 2nd Vuelta (will be listed as a win soon?), Lombardia and now MSR. Some races in between where he was just solid, but I think that is good.

Hopefully he can keep riding in harmony and get through Flanders without any trouble and then put in a big effort in LBL. Then get ready for TDF.

 

[Jspear]

This is pretty good for Nibali. He already pretty much made his season with this win

Takes the pressure off from him and he can just keep focusing on his targets. I also like the trend he is on. 2nd Vuelta (will be listed as a win soon?), Lombardia and now MSR. Some races in between where he was just solid, but I think that is good.

Hopefully he can keep riding in harmony and get through Flanders without any trouble and then put in a big effort in LBL. Then get ready for TDF.

I’m sure he won’t care about the 2017 Vuelta. You have to win it out on the road. But back to this year, perfect start. It would be amazing if he can find just a little more form than last year. He’d be a real big threat at the Tour.

 

[Salvarani]

This is pretty good for Nibali. He already pretty much made his season with this win

Takes the pressure off from him and he can just keep focusing on his targets. I also like the trend he is on. 2nd Vuelta (will be listed as a win soon?), Lombardia and now MSR. Some races in between where he was just solid, but I think that is good.

Hopefully he can keep riding in harmony and get through Flanders without any trouble and then put in a big effort in LBL. Then get ready for TDF.

I’m sure he won’t care about the 2017 Vuelta. You have to win it out on the road. But back to this year, perfect start. It would be amazing if he can find just a little more form than last year. He’d be a real big threat at the Tour.

I was more talking about the trend/consistency in good results when refering to the Vuelta followed by Lombardia and MSR, but fair enough. I understand what you mean. Nibali already onto the next one

 

[King Boonen]

Re:

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

He’s better than Kelly. Just, but better.

 

[Leinster]

Re:

A funny thing is that while it is true that Nibali won a lot of races he shouldn't have won (i.e. where you could argue he wasn't the strongest) - Vuelta 2010, Tirreno 2013, Giro 2016, possibly even Lombardia 2015 - at the same time he lost races where he seemed the strongest: Liege 2012 (debatable), Vuelta and Florence 2015, Rio 2016. So I find the overachiever argument a bit silly: he has proved his talent multiple times in different races, and you could even say that he should have won more than he actually did!

Yes, it’s very simple. Nibali is both an underachiever and an overachiever. He has had to work very hard with all his god-given talents only to lose out to negative tactics and weaker riders, and at the same time his luck and sneakiness have combined with his skills as a bike rider to give him all his big wins over stronger opponents.


I think it all comes down to his TdF win. He rode brilliantly throughout, but the fact that Froome and Contador crashed out means it’s diminished in many people’s eyes. Given his successes since (3 monuments, another Giro, multiple GT stage wins and podiums) I think you have to reassess and say that if anything, he was unlucky the other 2 didn’t finish the race that year.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

He’s better than Kelly. Just, but better.

AGREE

But not better than Indurain or Contador, IMO. History will decide.

 

[YavorD]

I read many comments about how Nibs is "overachiever".. Guy is (at his day) top 3 climber and 2nd best TT rider (well, TomD only came last year as a top GT rider if we add that he is the best descender and tactic master with this skills, he deserves his palmares, and maybe even more. He may not have the Valv sprint and amazing consistency or Contador/Schleck climbing talent, but he is the most complete rider in our era. Heck, he can even ride cobbles.

 

[Rollthedice]

Re: Re:

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

He’s better than Kelly. Just, but better.

AGREE

But not better than Indurain or Contador, IMO. History will decide.

For Vincenzo history is still in the making.

 

[Carols]

Re: Re:

Maybe not since Hinault if you consider Kelly coming post Hinault but definatly the best cyclist since the change of era's which was the early 90's when LeMond started the all out focussing on specific races and EPO made it's way into cycling.

He’s better than Kelly. Just, but better.

AGREE

But not better than Indurain or Contador, IMO. History will decide.

For Vincenzo history is still in the making.

And may he write (ride) his history Large! Forza Vince!

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

I read many comments about how Nibs is "overachiever".. Guy is (at his day) top 3 climber and 2nd best TT rider (well, TomD only came last year as a top GT rider if we add that he is the best descender and tactic master with this skills, he deserves his palmares, and maybe even more. He may not have the Valv sprint and amazing consistency or Contador/Schleck climbing talent, but he is the most complete rider in our era. Heck, he can even ride cobbles.

Probably he deserves but it's impossible to not point at the fact that all the GTs he won was because the strongest rider in the race crashed out, maybe we can argue about Giro 2013 because we didn't know the real shape of Wiggins but the year before at the Tour was destroyed by him in TTs and dropped even in MTF at La Planche des Belles Filles and Peyragudes. And his crashes in one day races hardly compensates that.

Anyway I think Nibali is both overrated and underrated in some ways, he's overrated as a GT rider, as a descender, probably even as a climber because in monoclimb stages can be dropped by more than ten riders but on the other hand he's also underrated as a classic rider, as a time trialist and as a diesel rider that probably is his top skill, after an hard and long race he could drop everyone even on a murito where after a 150 km soft pedaled stage there are twenty riders that could drop him.

 

[Durden93]

So, at the moment he's got to be the favourite for Innsbruck. Right?

 

[Leinster]

*A* favourite for Innsbruck. Too much “what if” in a one day race, too much racing between now and then, and too many other possible contenders. And all based on the one result so far this season. 2 week’s ago would we have suggested Benoot , Bardet or Van Aert as Worlds favourite s?

 

[RedheadDane]

A funny thing is that while it is true that Nibali won a lot of races he shouldn't have won (i.e. where you could argue he wasn't the strongest) - Vuelta 2010, Tirreno 2013, Giro 2016, possibly even Lombardia 2015 - at the same time he lost races where he seemed the strongest: Liege 2012 (debatable), Vuelta and Florence 2015, Rio 2016. So I find the overachiever argument a bit silly: he has proved his talent multiple times in different races, and you could even say that he should have won more than he actually did!

Well... I think we all remember what happened.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Nibali lost fair and square to Papi in 2013, altho they were very close!