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Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

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Better than expected. Couldn´t follow the best on a murito. Two or three years ago I would have said that everything is going according to plan but with the injury I just don´t see it. If he commits to the GC top 10 seems reasonable but that´s not really a worthwhile target for a guy with his palmares.
Good thing is the next important day is hardly a breakaway stage so he basically gets another chance to see if he can compete for the win or needs aim for breakaways.

Shape should be good enough for stage hunting at the very least.
 
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Better than expected. Couldn´t follow the best on a murito. Two or three years ago I would have said that everything is going according to plan but with the injury I just don´t see it. If he commits to the GC top 10 seems reasonable but that´s not really a worthwhile target for a guy with his palmares.

I don't think it's the injury but rather the lack of proper final preparation races. It's the inability to follow accelerations and changes of rhythm, maybe he'll improve as the race goes on, maybe it is what it is.

The frustration is that we are not able to see him race in proper shape, for various reasons, since a long time. Today's performance was good given the circumstances. I hope he stays positive, not give up and go as far as he can in this Giro.
 
Better than expected. Couldn´t follow the best on a murito. Two or three years ago I would have said that everything is going according to plan but with the injury I just don´t see it. If he commits to the GC top 10 seems reasonable but that´s not really a worthwhile target for a guy with his palmares.

The lack of racing is definitely taking its'toll. Changes of rhythm will hurt him like I feared. I'm afraid he will lose more time on Thursday. It's nice at least that at least Cicco is in form. The form should improve as time passes, though. If Vincenzo somehow manages to stay within 2 minutes from the leader before Zonc he may still have a chance for podium. I'd love to see him attack on Fedaia.
 
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The lack of racing is definitely taking its'toll. Changes of rhythm will hurt him like I feared. I'm afraid he will lose more time on Thursday. It's nice at least that at least Cicco is in form. The form should improve as time passes, though. If Vincenzo somehow manages to stay within 2 minutes from the leader before Zonc he may still have a chance for podium. I'd love to see him attack on Fedaia.

Regarding Cicco... I don't really understand his attack today. Surely he knew the stage win was gone, was he really aiming to improve his GC standings?
 
Ciccone is the kind of rider who doesn't really think before attacking. If he feels good he goes for it and that's the reason why many believe he's not GT material. Too impulsive, never in energy-saving mode. Which is actually what has made him a fan favorite over the years.
He was just trying to save the Giro for Trek after Mollema unexpectedly fell from GC contention
 
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Regarding Cicco... I don't really understand his attack today. Surely he knew the stage win was gone, was he really aiming to improve his GC standings?

The guy had an absolute *** year last year. And has not raced that much this year. He DNFed in Catalunya with knee pain and afterwards skipped the Alps to go on a training camp. He said he needed some assurance about how good he is, and he got it.

Makes perfect sense to me and dont every change Giulio!
 
Ciccone is now an interesting case. I think Trek would be better off going for stages with all three of their contenders, but if he feels great and thinks he can go for a top 5 GC placing... Hard to judge from the outside, I would probably ask him to try for as good a result as possible on stage 6, see how it goes and go from there.
 
Ciccone is now an interesting case. I think Trek would be better off going for stages with all three of their contenders, but if he feels great and thinks he can go for a top 5 GC placing... Hard to judge from the outside, I would probably ask him to try for as good a result as possible on stage 6, see how it goes and go from there.

Ciccone already mentioned that the plans for his Giro depends on his first week. He would try to limit losses as much as possible and see whether he would go for the GC or for stages. In general, looking only at this Giro i think stages would be the better option, as I think it would give him a better chance of a real success.

However, i think that Ciccone has never really tried to go for a GC, and with him aiming to go for a GC in the Vuelta and if succesful also the next years, i think on the long term its very good for him to get mixed up in the GC battle as long as possible.
 
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It has emerged that Nibali was suffering all day with the wrist handling his bike in that kind of weather, it ain't easy. As for the Ciccone "situation" Luca Guercilena to Gazzetta dello Sport:

"It was a very challenging day. Although the breakaway took a good margin, behind the group has always pulled strong. For us, Giulio tried to recover a little something always with the intention to test the legs. Nibali? Pretty good. He suffered the change of pace in the final kilometer. We'll see when the big climbs come. Hierarchies? I'd put them on the same level, in fact Vincenzo can still be considered a bit ahead. Let's evaluate day by day, without thinking too much about it for now".
 

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