Vincenzo Nibali: Welcome to the gt club.

[The Hitch]

Since we usually have a congrats to the winner thread after a stage race, heres Nibalis one.

I remember we had it when Danny Martin won the TDP.
This isnt quite as big as that, but its still worth opening a thread for.

Congratulations il sharko (or whatever that is in Italian)

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Congrats Vincenzo, sure as hell proved me wrong. And in what fashion during the final stage.

 

[Moondance]

Yes, good for him. He is a welcome addition to the GT winning club. Maybe not as welcome as Mosquera or Anton... But welcome nevertheless.

Kid is still only 25. Hope he does le Tour next year.

 

[Barrus]

Since we usually have a congrats to the winner thread after a stage race, heres Nibalis one.

I remember we had it when Danny Martin won the TDP.
This isnt quite as big as that, but its still worth opening a thread for.

Congratulations il sharko (or whatever that is in Italian)

Il squalo

Anyway, I don't want to jinx it, so I won't say anything about his possible win, until tomorrow evening

 

[ttrider]

I think he is very much the coming man in cycling, he definitely deserves it, at the start of the tour we questioned his pacing to Andorra but Bola del Mundo just proves hes willing to learn

To win a GC without having to use your number one talent (Descending) is mighty impressive

 

[RdBiker]

A good year for Liquigas: The Giro overall with Basso and now the Vuelta

 

[The Hitch]

Il squalo

Anyway, I don't want to jinx it, so I won't say anything about his possible win, until tomorrow evening

Il sharko sounds better

 

[Francois the Postman]

Il squalo

Anyway, I don't want to jinx it, so I won't say anything about his possible win, until tomorrow evening

Indeed, there is nothing here that a well-aimed punch to the liver by the locals can't fix

Aye, great ride today. The absence of Anton doesn't change that. Over the whole of the Vuelta, Nibali has been solid to impressive. And Liquigas ditto.

Not that long ago we were discussing who of the new pretenders would come good as GC material when it gets serious. Nibali certainly has shown he's in, the enforced Giro-Vuelta step has done him a favour too.

And we now know the markers that Gesink & Co have to hit, in 1.5 years or so, if we want to think of this as the Gesink generation rather than the Nibali one.

Shame we don't have as many Italians as Anglophobes on the forum, so Hitch has to be diverted from his stage intro duties [hint] to don Nibali in the obligatory flag waving for anyone who wins something of note, and is able to climb on a bike and stay on it longer than your average orange-blue rider, especially if they are orange-blue or if they speak English.

Has anyone mentioned yet that one of Nibali's aunts is Ozzie? I mean come on ACF, I can't believe you haven't claimed him as yours yet, and have splattered another Ozzie GT win in treble font size across the forum?

So Hitch it is, our new resident Nibali PR Guru.

 

[c&cfan]

the coming man?? funny..he is 26 so he is the same age as andy and a little younger than contador.. just because he won a vuelta were there wasnt big guns in shape, that means that he is the coming man? so contador is what?

 

[taiwan]

Congrats Vincenzo, sure as hell proved me wrong. And in what fashion during the final stage.

Red w/ stylised cheetah pattern over lime green and dark blue: it was a bold ensemble.

 

[The Hitch]

So Hitch it is, our new resident Nibali PR Guru.

Nope. I will confirm this by pointing out to those who say Nibali is leading the new generation that the king of the tourmalet, or rather stuart of the tourmalet (considering Contador gave it to him) is also part of this generation. It is he who is leading this generation and Nibali will struggle to beat junior at the tour, or any gt which Schleck decides to contest.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Nope. I will confirm this by pointing out to those who say Nibali is leading the new generation that the king of the tourmalet, or rather stuart of the tourmalet (considering Contador gave it to him) is also part of this generation. It is he who is leading this generation and Nibali will struggle to beat junior at the tour, or any gt which Schleck decides to contest.

Gawd, you are starting to take posts almost as too serious as I do

 

[The Hitch]

Gawd, you are starting to take posts almost as too serious as I do

Nope. I simply decided to use your joke as a diving board to make the point i was going to make anyway

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Don't forget that when TGBM unleashes his full wrath Nibali will have another opponent he can't beat to add on the list

 

[The Hitch]

Don't forget that when TGBM unleashes his full wrath Nibali will have another opponent he can't beat to add on the list

Now why is it, Dekker T, that i believe that in reality the TGBM in this sentence is merely a replacement for "Robert Gesink" ?

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gesink isn't added on the list, he is already on that for a long time.
In virtually every race Gesink and Nibali met, Gesink won the battle, certainly when there were mountains to climb
That's not even a question.
They did evade eachother in 2010 though.

(bar the Tirreno, Gesink 5th, Nibali 8th, and the ardennes classics, where they both kinda sucked (21/23 agr, 12/14 FW, 15/28 LBL) and CSS (7/76th)

 

[Francois the Postman]

Don't forget that when TGBM unleashes his full wrath Nibali will have another opponent he can't beat to add on the list

The most gracious way when you are that superior is to participate, but let others take the mucky fight for mundane spoils and mortal credit, whilst taking a quiet back seat himself.

A bit how John Cale always lets the ever attention-hungry Lou Reed claim the applause at the front of the stage in Japan, knowing full well how that will appear to Japanese eyes, when the sage stands composed behind him.

There is being good and being great. I expect TGBM to show how utterly superior he is by letting others think they have won. He will dominate cycling that way for most of his career.

 

[indurain666]

If I am wrong, I am wrong: Nibali proved me very wrong too. Congratulations to him, amazing ride up to Bola del Mundo. Overall this was a good Vuelta with good racing.

Not sure what his schedule is going to look like next season but I hope to see him at the Giro or Tour challenging the maglia rosa or maillot jaune. But at age 27 I think he is ready to start challenging the top GT racers.

 

[offbyone]

Tough edition to win, he should be very proud to have his name on this.

 

[hfer07]

 

[The Hitch]

Fantastic

 

[Arnout]

the coming man?? funny..he is 26 so he is the same age as andy and a little younger than contador.. just because he won a vuelta were there wasnt big guns in shape, that means that he is the coming man? so contador is what?

Not all riders have the same development scheme.

Now, here comes a theory I just thought of, but it seems Spanish and Italian talents tend to pop up a bit later than their Northern European and Anglo-saxon counterparts. Think of Nibali now, but also Anton and Nieve who really had to mature, and even Contador or Basso who were growing slowly. It may have to do with the professionalism in the youth circuit, but that also means they will reach their peak when they are in their peak years.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Contador wasn't growing slowly.
He was already nearly top class in his first years until he had his brain thingy problem which almost took him down forever.
After his comeback he was immediately top class again and the year after he won the Tour already.

No way Contador is in the 'slow progress' line. Contador is in the 'what's good comes early' line.

 

[hrotha]

Antón was also very, very good at 23 but then he had a 4-year-long crash which is still ongoing.

 

[Climbing]

Btw guys it's "Lo Squalo".
I don't know its schedule next year (maybe he does not too), but maybe it will be TdF (like it should have been this year); TdF mountains suit him very well considering his abilities.
Complimenti Vincenzo!