• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

Page 501 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re:

Netserk said:
Nibali can win from Saint-Nicolas, as long as it isn't from a 40-men big group.

El Pistolero said:
https://nos.nl/tour/artikel/2180819-heeft-astana-niet-stiekem-de-tourfavorieten.html

I found this hilarious interview with Fuglsang, boy that guy is a real Calimero.

It's in Dutch but he's saying Nibali often spoiled the party for him (he claims he could've taken the yellow jersey in the stage to Arenberg and the pink jersey in the Giro but Nibali attacked and Dumoulin responded).

If he was a better bike rider he could've indeed taken the yellow and pink jersey, but instead he blaims others for his failures.
Yet somehow, everyone goes crazy when I point this out.

Well, it just stings a bit more coming from a competent poster, I guess. And the issue of nationality probably also plays a part in that matter.
 
May 26, 2012
105
0
0
Visit site
Re:

Akuryo said:
Seriously, how can you not like the guy? Awesome rider and person. One of the true legends of this era.

Well...he is awesome rider, but person? I am not sure...His racing style is entertaining, but some of his actions and his "interviews" are stopping me from being a fan...
 
Re: Re:

Sartorius said:
Akuryo said:
Seriously, how can you not like the guy? Awesome rider and person. One of the true legends of this era.

Well...he is awesome rider, but person? I am not sure...His racing style is entertaining, but some of his actions and his "interviews" are stopping me from being a fan...
He seems a bit impulsive at times and prone to a bit of trash talk but on the other hand he also sounds pretty humble and most of his peers/teamates have good things to say about him. (The way Valverde congratulated him after stage 20 of the Giro when he was riding for victory himself says it all really)

I'm late to the party about his RVV performance, he was more or less where i imagined he would be, he struggled a bit on the Paterberg, with his build flying there would be nothing short of a miracle but otherwise he was looking pretty good on the other climbs, i'm not surprised he ran out of gas, might have forgotten to eat/drink enough riding the finale of a race he didn't know. I don't think he will ever be able to win it, but had he ridden the preparations races i'm pretty confident he would have finished with the GvA/Sagan group. That should give him some more confidence for the tour, he was good on the kwaremont which is the closest thing in the ronde to a PR cobbles sector.
 
Re: Re:

Red Rick said:
hrotha said:
He's said and done plenty of things off the bike for anybody to dislike him. I still like him personally, but there's no denying this.
Pretty sure that applies to almost everyone.
Not really. Most riders haven't been caught multiple times taking a blatant tow, for example, and his ***-talking is top notch.

edit: in my previous post I meant to say "both on and off the bike".
 
Re:

hrotha said:
He's said and done plenty of things off the bike for anybody to dislike him. I still like him personally, but there's no denying this.
Yep i agree with you, he has made some rash statements, some stupid, some hypocritical too (the discussion about those would be for another subforum) and has taken some poor decisions on the bike, but none of those really screams "***" to me. But i'm probably cutting him too much slack, he's easily one of my favorite riders ever.
 
I really don't see what wrong has Nibali done. He has always been a great team player, surely not an egoist, just look at the giro 2010; he was stronger than Basso in many stages but never made a ridiculous show like Froome vs Wiggo in 2012. In 2016 he helped his old domestique Kangert to win the Abu Dhabi Tour. How many multiple GC winner you see doing that?

Nibali is an introvert one when he's outside his circle he's a closed person . He's not the sympathetic mediatic guy always laughing&smiling like Contador, but that is his character. Nibali is not a great talker either and doesn't care of his image but is a good one inside I think. I've heard that Cortina received an expensive clock by him after the Vuelta, after Sanremo he brought the whole team at dinner to celebrate. Just look how many friend Nibali has among his former teammates, the ones who've been close to him, haven't heard any Ivan Basso's wife calling him “slithering reptile” either. Other riders like Aru appear always polite, diplomatic, respectful, nice, etc but they gave me the impression of being partly fake and a little bastard inside, Nibali is a genuine one

OK the car tow but what about the astana ds? Nibali probably left astana for that story, anyway he has explained the fact and was excluded from the Vuelta rightfully.
 
Re:

Red Rick said:
Yeah, he seems like a pretty ok dude to me, if a bit introverted. I do think he's a bit prideful, but I don't think that's a problem at all.

Here, with another introverted dude. Wonder if they really spoke much to each other.

bettiniphoto-0093373-1-full-600.jpg
 
Jun 30, 2014
7,060
2
0
Visit site
@EroicaStradeBianche:
I have to agree when it comes to Aru, he's always praising everyone and almost sounds like a politician.
Nibali also seems to have no problems with teammates who have teir own ambitions like Fuglsang and Visconti.
 
When i saw him in the first positions of the group after the second Oude Kwaremont i really though "he'll drop everyone in the next passage after 250 kms" but in the end he cracked, probably is the first time that he slow down instead of becoming stronger after the 200 kms mark. Anyway yesterday didn't seem too fatigued, maybe he eased up a bit after the attack or he's better suited to flat cobbles considering that the Oude Kwaremont is the one with the lower gradients.
 
I'm curious to see if he'll try to put the hammer down already at Amstel or he'll work for Colbrelly there, the new route that favours attack theoretically should suit him better that the Cauberg in the finale and last year showed that Colbrelly couldn't hold when Gilbert attacked.

For sure he'll try something before Huy in the Fleche but i think it's impossible to succed, at Liege he should put the team in front already from Cote de Pont and make a big selection from Rosier, if he'll wait and they'll arrive at Roche aux Faucons with a 100+ riders group an attack there or on Saint Nicholas will be a suicide.
 
Re:

Nirvana said:
When i saw him in the first positions of the group after the second Oude Kwaremont i really though "he'll drop everyone in the next passage after 250 kms" but in the end he cracked, probably is the first time that he slow down instead of becoming stronger after the 200 kms mark. Anyway yesterday didn't seem too fatigued, maybe he eased up a bit after the attack or he's better suited to flat cobbles considering that the Oude Kwaremont is the one with the lower gradients.
I think it's the fact the intensity for this race is so different. Nibali doesn't really have the power for numerous mini-sprints before every hill or cobbled section. He was good on everything but the paterberg (on the second kwaremont he was only dropped slightly, he was with kristoff), which is impressive. But the lack of race prep and raw power hurt him by the end. A race like last year's would have suited him more, as long as he's got into the front group.
 
Re: Re:

Brullnux said:
Nirvana said:
When i saw him in the first positions of the group after the second Oude Kwaremont i really though "he'll drop everyone in the next passage after 250 kms" but in the end he cracked, probably is the first time that he slow down instead of becoming stronger after the 200 kms mark. Anyway yesterday didn't seem too fatigued, maybe he eased up a bit after the attack or he's better suited to flat cobbles considering that the Oude Kwaremont is the one with the lower gradients.
I think it's the fact the intensity for this race is so different. Nibali doesn't really have the power for numerous mini-sprints before every hill or cobbled section. He was good on everything but the paterberg (on the second kwaremont he was only dropped slightly, he was with kristoff), which is impressive. But the lack of race prep and raw power hurt him by the end. A race like last year's would have suited him more, as long as he's got into the front group.

I think the fact that we even talk about how he can/could win a race like Ronde is nothing short of amazing. He didn't blew up when Terpstra accelerated, he just couldn't follow the sustained intensity of a classics rider who was at his absolute peak and dropped back. Kwiatkowski blew up, Nibali was distanced with a small group after the last Pater onslaught by the very best riders in the world in these races. He came to Flanders with no knowledge, no proper physique for this, no specific prep and not at his peak, nevermind the cobbles. He had enough stamina to put in an attack after 240 km which eventually decided the race. I think he did a mighty fine job.
 
During one of the many post race interviews he said that a good knowledge of the course is vital for positioning, or you'll always find yourself losing positions that you'll need to recover, every time. And that takes a lot of energy away, which in a race as hard as this, full on from the start, makes the difference between winning and losing.

He said that it was harder approaching each climbs, than the climbs themselves, with everybody basically sprinting for position.

According to Slongo he had an avg power of 250W for Flanders, compared to just 187W for MSR.
His attack was at 650W for about 15secs...
His attack on the Poggio was at about 700W, so higher. Which shows that he was already quite tired last Sun when he attacked.
 

TRENDING THREADS