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Teams & Riders Vincenzo Nibali discussion thread

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"For me it will be a great emotion and honor to close at Lombardia, which is one of the races I have loved the most in my career. I remember the victories of Bettini and Cunego in my early pro years and dreamed of one day conquering this Monument. I have already succeeded twice and on Saturday the 8th I will try again in what will be my last race. I came out of La Vuelta well and have good sensations."

Two races before GdL, Agostoni and Tre Valli Varesine.
 


"For me it will be a great emotion and honor to close at Lombardia, which is one of the races I have loved the most in my career. I remember the victories of Bettini and Cunego in my early pro years and dreamed of one day conquering this Monument. I have already succeeded twice and on Saturday the 8th I will try again in what will be my last race. I came out of La Vuelta well and have good sensations."

Two races before GdL, Agostoni and Tre Valli Varesine.
Sad that he won't be going to Giro dell'Emilia in this final block of races.

Also sad that vincenzo hair is getting less.

Anyway with good sensations anything can happen in the next 10 days.

Roglic is season over, Remco is not racing, Pogacar is mentally broken after TDF, Alaphilippe has bad form, Masnada is recovering from Mononuclosis. Well maybe there is a chance
 
I feel there hasn't been much noise about Nibali and we've all accepted his retirement without a fight. I call on all you fellow vikings to ramp it up and go bananas for the race of the falling leaves.

I'm working on multiple scenarios right now, all of them based on an attack on the descent of Madonna del Ghisallo. Meanwhile Pog, for some unknown reason stops for a visit at the museum on top while the chase group is doomed since Valverde is there. Pinot works like a madman with Nibali just to be dropped on the Civiglio descent.
 
I'm working on multiple scenarios right now, all of them based on an attack on the descent of Madonna del Ghisallo. Meanwhile Pog, for some unknown reason stops for a visit at the museum on top while the chase group is doomed since Valverde is there. Pinot works like a madman with Nibali just to be dropped on the Civiglio descent.
Maybe there is a trophy collection in there? I heard Slovenians tend to have a thing for that kind of stuff.
 
It will be heavy next week, for us. Hard to believe it will all come to an end.

https://www.laprovinciadicomo.it/stories/Sport/ciclismo/lombardia-una-festa-per-nibali_1440112_11/

"On these streets I train, here I have won twice, this is the city I go to from time to time with the family. Nice to close here."

And that's not enough: because the city will try to make the event its own, with some special initiative.

And in the future there is even talk of a plaque to be placed on the Ponzate descent, where he attacked before his victories.

Next Saturday, Lombardy will have its eyes on this farewell, there will be special media attention, and there will also be all of Vincenzo's family arriving on purpose at the finish line to celebrate him. Let's prepare for tears, although he said yesterday that he "is not sad, but wants to live the moment intensely." In his heart, that's for sure, he would also like to have a good race.
 
Actually now recently I start realising what is happening. Its actually going to end, the last days, there will be not one more spring or one more Giro. Its quite sad.

This is after years of me thinking to myself 'no way Vincenzo retires yet, there will be one more season, one more chance of taking another big win. He's too passionate about the sport to stop yet. He will have to come back to Roubaix next year to show everybody it was not a fluke'.

But it's finally the end, I've just realised. He wakes up in Como on Sunday 9th October, goes home quietly and is no longer a professional cyclist. I can't yet imagine the sport without Vincenzo Nibali.

Important to remember though, that everything is temporary, everything stops. And to be almost scared of a rider's retirement, indicates what a rider they are
 
As I posted years ago, I had the opportunity to chat with Vincenzo during a full-on race at Fiuggi, where he was based in preparation for his Giro win in 2013. Uno spettacolo as they say.
@rhubroma!


As has been pointed out, this really belongs here:

Vincenzo Nibali was riding in my group at the front of a Granfondo (yesterday) as a training ride with his teammate Valerio Agnoli who is from Fiuggi, where the race began. Nibali and Agnoli are staying at altitude above Fiuggi in preparation for the Giro, since Nibali's wife is from there (they met because Nibali and Agnoli are good friends). I actually spoke with him, Nibali, briefly while we were cruising along on one of the only flat spots on the 130k (80 mile) course. What did I say? Naturally best of luck at the Giro. He's known as "the Shark of Messina." Now I know why. He doesn't have a muscle or any fat that's not in function of peddling a bike and, I dare say, he doesn't seem to be peddling, but swimming. Weird. The Giro starts next week, so it was interesting to see one of the best bike racers in the world at near maximum form. He will fly in the race. You heard it first here.

He seemed rather down to earth. It was funny, you know. At the start of the Granfondo there were like over 1000 participants. Myself and the guys I ride with were in the first grill, though it still took about 3 minutes to actually depart, because there were about 300 riders in front of us.

The first 20K were lightning fast and so it was a matter of getting your a$$ up to the front without crashing or going fuori giro, then the first climb came!

I got over that with the leaders. We were at that point a group of 40-50, no more. Then there was another climb and that shed another 20 or so out the back. Finally the pace dropped back down in the valley and one could take a bit of a breather before the next climb (there was over 2300 meters of total vertical ascent on the course).

It was at this point that I noticed two really fit guys with sky blue kit among us. I immediately realized neither had race numbers on and remembered that Nibali and Agnoli were above Fiuggi at altitude according to la Gazzetta dello Sport. Then I thought "Sh!t, that's Nibali and Agnoli."

We had been going so hard before and I was so concentrated on my race and holding position, first getting up to the front, then on the climbs, that I hadn't even noticed them. Then I thought, pfff, gotta say something to the bloke, so I did. No big deal. He got a kick out of the fact though that, while American, my mother's side of the family had emigrated to the US from Messina a century or so ago. After our brief exchange then came the next climb to Fiuggi, not the longest of the day, but the steepest. A brutal series of switchbacks, with brief sections at 20% for about 3-4k. Still there, but a break of 4 gets away, among whom was the eventual winner.
It was on the next climb of 10k that Nibali and Agnoli bridged up to the leaders. Bye-Bye…or rather, ciao.
 
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"Lombardia is the most important appointment of this season finale for me. Until now the legs have responded well, let's also see how the Tre Valli Varesine will go, although we know that at Lombardia there are 60 more kilometers that can make a difference."

The Shark of the Strait concludes with a smile:

"Good to see four old guys in front. With Valverde we approach Lombardia with the desire to make our mark. We know it will be difficult, but we want to try. For us today definitely a respectable top 10 with interesting young people like me, Alejandro, Pozzovivo and Uran."
 
Valverde fans vs Nibali fans has been the lifeblood of the forum for years.

All the while Valverde and Nibali himself have been perfectly amicable.
Really? I only joined recently so didn't know.

Funny that they are so at odds with each other. Valverde and Nibali have always been my favourite riders the past 15-20 years. Never saw them as big rivals of each other, most of the time one was much better than the other.
 
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