Vincenzo Nibali

Vincenzo Nibali

Nibali at the 2009 Tour of California.
Personal information
Full name	Vincenzo Nibali
Nickname	Lo Squalo (The Shark)
Born	(1984-11-14) 14 November 1984 Messina, Sicily, Italy
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight	65 kg (143 lb; 10.2 st)[1]
Team information
Current team	Astana
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-rounder
Professional team(s)
2005 2006–2012 2013–	Fassa Bortolo Liquigas Astana
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia General classification (2013) 4 individual stages (2010, 2011, 2013) Vuelta a España General classification (2010) Combination classification (2010) Stage races Giro del Trentino (2008, 2013) Tirreno–Adriatico (2012, 2013) Giro di Padania (2012) One-day races and Classics GP Ouest-France (2006)
Infobox last updated on 28 October 2013

Vincenzo Nibali (Italian pronunciation: [vinˈtʃɛntso ˈniːbali]; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered one of the strongest stage race riders of these years. He rides for the Kazakhstani UCI ProTeam Astana.^[2] Born near the Strait of Messina, his nickname is the "Shark of the Strait" or simply "The Shark".^[3][4] His first major win came at the 2006 GP Ouest-France, where he beat an impressive field on a tough course. However, experts such as Michele Bartoli have said Nibali is most suited to competing in multi-stage races.^[5] Nibali's biggest wins to date are the 2010 Vuelta a España and the 2013 Giro d'Italia. He has also won two editions of the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.

Early life

Vincenzo Nibali was born on 14 November 1984, on the same day as the famous cyclist Bernard Hinault, in Messina, Sicily, the son of Salvatore and Giovanna. In order to become a cyclist, he left his hometown Messina and moved to Tuscany at the age of sixteen. For ten months of the year, he lived in the house of his ex-directeur sportif, Carlo Franceschi, in Mastromarco, near Lamporecchio.^[6][7]

Career

Early career

Nibali finished third at the Junior World Time Trial Championship in 2002 and also third at the U-23 World Time Trial Championship in 2004. He turned professional in 2005 with Fassa Bortolo. In 2006, Nibali signed with Liquigas. In that year, he won the French classic GP Ouest-France at 21 years of age.^[8] He also finished in second position overall of the 2.1 rated Settimana internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, taking the win on the first stage.^[9] In 2007, Nibali rode the Giro d'Italia for the first time and finished 19th overall. 2008 saw Nibali finish 10th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, obtaining also an 11th place finish in the Giro d'Italia and a 20th place finish in the Tour de France.

2009

Nibali finished seventh overall in the 2009 Tour de France

2009 saw Nibali record a win in the Giro dell'Appennino where he attacked almost 50 km (31.1 mi) from the finish to win solo. He dedicated the win to the memory of his grandmother.^[10] Another notable victory in 2009 was the Gran Premio Città di Camaiore. He finished sixth overall in the Tour of California and ninth overall in Tour of the Basque Country, before sharing leaderhip of Liquigas at the Tour de France with Ivan Basso. Nibali proved the stronger of the two and finished in seventh place overall, then his best placing in a grand tour.

2010

Nibali wears the leader's jersey at the 2010 Vuelta a Espana

Nibali began 2010 in great form by finishing first overall in the Tour de San Luis. He was a last minute addition to Liquigas' Giro d'Italia squad following Franco Pellizotti's last minute withdrawal over Blood Passport irregularities. Nibali wore the Maglia Rosa after his Liquigas-Doimo team won the stage four team time trial, later won the 14th stage and eventually finished third behind his teammate Ivan Basso and David Arroyo. In June, Nibali won the Tour of Slovenia. Later in the season, Nibali won the Trofeo Melinda. Nibali won the Vuelta a España without winning a stage, thanks to consistent high placings on summit stage finishes and the race's two time trials.^[11] He had inherited the race lead after Igor Anton was forced to abandon after crashing on stage 14. This marked his first grand tour victory.

2011

Nibali began 2011 with solid form, taking 5th overall in Tirreno-Adriatico. He also enjoyed a solid classics season, recording 8th place in Milan-San Remo and 8th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Nibali was one of the favourites for the Giro d'Italia, with Ivan Basso not riding, giving him sole leadership of Liquigas. He finished third overall behind Alberto Contador and Michele Scarponi, with Nibali and Scarponi fighting over second in the final week when it became apparent the gap to Contador was too large (Contador was later stripped of the title, moving Nibali up to second).

Nibali was also leader of Liquigas at the Vuelta a España. On stage six, Liquigas orchestrated an escape on the descent into Córdoba, but a miscommunication saw Nibali finishing fourth, failing to take any bonus seconds. He moved to third overall on stage 11, behind Sky duo Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Over the Next few stages, Nibali began to chip into Wiggins' lead by taking time bonuses from sprints. However, stage 14 saw Nibali crack on the final climb, putting him out of contention for a podium placing. He finished seventh overall.

2012

Nibali at the 2012 Tour de France

Nibali began the 2012 campaign with second overall in the Tour of Oman, one second behind Peter Velits, winning the queen stage. Nibali finished first overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico after winning stage five. He also won the points classification. In March, Nibali finished third in Milan-San Remo, his first podium finish in a monument.

On Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he broke away solo when he attacked on the descent of the Cote de la Roche aux Faucons and dropped his main challengers with 20 kilometers to go, but he was passed by Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) in sight of the final kilometer (flamme rouge). He held on to finish in second place.^[12]

Nibali chose to focus his attention on the Tour de France, skipping the Giro d'Italia in order to prepare. After a solid first week, Nibali finished fourth on the first summit finish on stage seven to rise to third in the overall standings, sixteen seconds behind leader Wiggins and six behind defending champion Cadel Evans. However, Nibali conceded over two minutes to Wiggins in the time trial on stage nine, where he placed eighth, and slipped to fourth on the GC, behind Wiggins' team mate Froome. On stage ten, Nibali attacked on the descent of the Col du Grand Colombier and linked up with team mate Peter Sagan, but the pair were caught by the Team Sky led peloton. Nibali then accused Wiggins of showing a lack of respect at the stage finish.^[13] Nibali went on the attack again on the following stage, which finished with a climb to La Toussuire, and put time into Wiggins and Froome, only for the pair to drag themselves back to Nibali, although he did move up to third overall after Evans lost time. He attacked again on stage 16 on the Col de Peyresourde with only Wiggins and Froome able to chase. They caught him before the summit but Nibali accelerated again but Wiggins closed the gap and the three of them finished together. Nibali lost time to Wiggins and Froome the following stage, another mountain stage, this time with a summit finish and two stages later in the final individual time trial which Wiggins won. Nibali finished third, the only rider to finish within ten minutes of Wiggins and Froome.

Nibali left Liquigas-Cannondale at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Astana on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.^[2] The deal has been reported to be a three million Euros a year contract.^[14]

2013

Nibali started his 2013 season in good form finishing 7th in the Tour of Oman and winning the Tirreno–Adriatico. In the latter race, he took the leader's jersey off Froome's shoulders in stage 6, where he escaped with Peter Sagan and Joaquim Rodriguez on a short climb with a gradient of 30%.^[15] He held off Froome in the final time trial. In April, he won the Giro del Trentino on the final stage featuring a mountaintop finish. He took the lead from Maxime Bouet, who had been the overall leader since the second stage. Nibali powered away on the last Hors Category climb, distancing rivals Mauro Santambrogio and Wiggins, who suffered a mechanical issue, and winning the stage in solo fashion.^[16]

Nibali wearing the leader's pink jersey on the final stage of the 2013 Giro d'Italia

Nibali and Wiggins entered the Giro d'Italia as the two favourites for overall victory. Nibali took the leader's Maglia Rosa on stage eight after finishing fourth in the time trial won by Alex Dowsett, conceding only 11 seconds to Wiggins. On stage ten, the first mountain top finish, Nibali finished third behind Rigoberto Uran to extend his lead over second placed Evans to 41 seconds. The rest of the race was severely affected by poor weather conditions. Nibali put further time into his rivals on stage 14, finishing on Monte Jafferau Jafferau, as he and Mauro Santambrogio rode away in freezing conditions, with Nibali allowing Santambrogio to take the stage win. Nibali won stage 18, a mountain time trial, by 58 seconds from Samuel Sánchez, to extend his lead over Evans and Urán to over four minutes. The following stage, scheduled to be the queen stage of the race, had to be cancelled due to snow. Stage 20, the final mountain stage, also saw heavy snow, as Nibali attacked on the final climb to Tre Cime di Lavaredo to win the stage by 17 seconds from Fabio Duarte, with Urán a further two seconds back. Nibali also moved into the lead in the points classification. Nibali safely negotiated the final stage to Brescia to win the Giro by four minutes 43 seconds over Urán, his second Grand tour overall victory. However, as Mark Cavendish collected all the intermediate sprints before winning the final stage, Nibali finished second to the Manxman in the points classification.^[17] At the Vuelta Nibali was vexed as to whether he should chase the red jersey to record his second grand tour in 2013 or reserve his energy for the World Championships to be held just weeks later in his adopted Tuscany. He rode well throughout wearing the red jersey for several stages on his way to second place. Nibali has now worn the leader's jersey more than any other Italian in the history of the Vuelta.

Personal life

Nibali moved to Lugano in the spring of 2012 with his girlfriend. They married in October 2012.^[18]

Palmares

Grand Tour general classification results timeline

Grand Tour	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Giro	-	19	11	-	3	2	-	1
Tour	-	-	20	7	-	-	3	-
Vuelta	-	-	-	-	1	7	-	2

WD = Withdrew; IP = In Progress

References

External links

• Media related to Vincenzo Nibali at Wikimedia Commons
• Vincenzo Nibali at Trap-Friis.dk. Archive copy at the Wayback Machine (archived 24 May 2011)