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Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

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Yesterday a meeting took place between Cassani and Nibali. Gazzetta reports that, at the moment the team for Tokyo road race will be Caruso, Bettiol, Moscon, Ciccone and Formolo. Lo Squalo is on the reserve list.

Cassani:

"I want to bring the best lineup like in Rio 2016. In Brazil, Nibali was coming from the Giro victory, now unfortunately his situation is much more delicate, and for faults that are not his own. Vincenzo is a patrimony of our cycling: I don't know, let's see how he is in the next days and what feelings he will have. The decision will come after the Italian Championships of Imola on June 20".
 
I think he will be selected in the end, unless he himself says no.
In that case I would 100% skip the tour and do Vuelta preparation for end of the season one day races.
I would like that too. I don't even think Nibali liked Giro/Tour the previous time so forcing him to go for that now would just seem stupid. There's no delusion he'd go for GC and if you wanna win stages you can have a decent stage hunting/sprinting squad either way. Lastly the Tour route is pretty bad for climbers, even the breakaway ones.
 
I would also ask Nibali if he would be willing to work as a helper. That sounds harsh at first but honestly, a guy that descends as well as him, is as good at positioning as him and has as much experience as him is incredibly useful for any team.
Yes and no. I think working for others is fine. But orientating the rest of the season towards helping int he Olympics, please no. Especially if it requires riding the Tour.
 
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I would like that too. I don't even think Nibali liked Giro/Tour the previous time so forcing him to go for that now would just seem stupid. There's no delusion he'd go for GC and if you wanna win stages you can have a decent stage hunting/sprinting squad either way. Lastly the Tour route is pretty bad for climbers, even the breakaway ones.
I don't know, I think the Tour route is decent in terms of breakaway opportunities. Especially the first 3 stages in the pyrenees, from stage 14 to 16, all look like they are gonna go to the break. I think the problem is rather that Nibali, even when he was in great shape in the Giro, needed ages to get into race rhythm in the Tour before having some good performances in the final week (Val Thorens says hello). But considering how he looked in the Giro he would have to be significantly better than that to even contest for stage wins and I don't see that happening. Tour de France breaks don't just happen to be really bad like it sometimes happens in the Giro. If a Tour stage win is at stake everyone and his mother wants to be there.
 
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Unless he can do a Horner I think he should retire at the end of 2022. But he was very unlucky with so many crashes this year, both leading up to and in Giro.
I dunno I have it on good authority Antonio keeps telling me he's aging better than Valverde solely because he ain't balding that badly. Baldverde > Nibaldi obviously

I don't know, I think the Tour route is decent in terms of breakaway opportunities. Especially the first 3 stages in the pyrenees, from stage 14 to 16, all look like they are gonna go to the break. I think the problem is rather that Nibali, even when he was in great shape in the Giro, needed ages to get into race rhythm in the Tour before having some good performances in the final week (Val Thorens says hello). But considering how he looked in the Giro he would have to be significantly better than that to even contest for stage wins and I don't see that happening. Tour de France breaks don't just happen to be really bad like it sometimes happens in the Giro. If a Tour stage win is at stake everyone and his mother wants to be there.
There's just far fewer opportunities at the Tour, and they're higher level on average and with far less chance of Nibali being good.

I don't think the obvious breakaway mid mountain stages are any good for Nibali even in say 2019 form. I think it would probably have to be one of the main mountain stages, perhaps Col de Portet with an underwhelming climbing break due to the first half of the stage or some ***.
 
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Yes, June 20th, I think same route as the WCRR.
Yeah, 230km long, with a flat part, then the Monticino climb and Cima Gallisterna (the final climb of the WC circuit) before 4 laps on the Imola WC circuit.
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/428415?sid=00b5e3326a667685388233a4e08e7692

About Nibali, I fear that him rushing back to rushing the Giro and being involved in multiple crashes (he never directly hit the deck himself, but was hit by other riders who where coming from behind in both his crashes during the Giro) but still wanting to finish the Giro pretty much ruined the chance of him being in good shape for the WC.
 
Yeah, 230km long, with a flat part, then the Monticino climb and Cima Gallisterna (the final climb of the WC circuit) before 4 laps on the Imola WC circuit.
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/428415?sid=00b5e3326a667685388233a4e08e7692

About Nibali, I fear that him rushing back to rushing the Giro and being involved in multiple crashes (he never directly hit the deck himself, but was hit by other riders who where coming from behind in both his crashes during the Giro) but still wanting to finish the Giro pretty much ruined the chance of him being in good shape for the WC.
It was never a good idea, I agree, but I'm pretty sure Trek pushed him to be at the start.
At this point I'm also wondering whether Cassani told him he needed to prove himself at the Giro otherwise he wouldn't even stand a chance to be selected.
 
Yeah, 230km long, with a flat part, then the Monticino climb and Cima Gallisterna (the final climb of the WC circuit) before 4 laps on the Imola WC circuit.
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/428415?sid=00b5e3326a667685388233a4e08e7692

About Nibali, I fear that him rushing back to rushing the Giro and being involved in multiple crashes (he never directly hit the deck himself, but was hit by other riders who where coming from behind in both his crashes during the Giro) but still wanting to finish the Giro pretty much ruined the chance of him being in good shape for the WC.
Nationals or WC?
 
Yeah, 230km long, with a flat part, then the Monticino climb and Cima Gallisterna (the final climb of the WC circuit) before 4 laps on the Imola WC circuit.
https://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/428415?sid=00b5e3326a667685388233a4e08e7692

About Nibali, I fear that him rushing back to rushing the Giro and being involved in multiple crashes (he never directly hit the deck himself, but was hit by other riders who where coming from behind in both his crashes during the Giro) but still wanting to finish the Giro pretty much ruined the chance of him being in good shape for the WC.

He crashed once by himself in the stage when he also had a mechanical, I posted here a picture with him and the equipment is torn on his right side if I remember. He had to finish the Giro, unfortunately the questionable shape from the beginning degraded towards the end.

After he broke his wrist, as much as he wanted to be different, everything went downhill. Not sure what can be done for the Olympics, the idea to skip the Tour and prepare a fall resurgence seems a good one.

About next team, rumors still point to Astana in pole position.
 
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