Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) speaks with Christian Prudhomme(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) attacks the GC riders on the way to Gap(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) looks back to see how much time he gained on the overall contenders
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) stopped quickly after the finish line Gap and poured a bottle of cold water over his head, looking for respite from yet another hot day in the Tour de France.
As he raised his head to speak to the media gathered around him, he finally showed an expression of satisfaction, after going on the attack on the descent of the Col de Manse and gaining a handful of seconds on his fellow general classification contenders. Nibali finished 26 seconds ahead of Chris Froome (Tram Sky). He is still only eighth overall but broke below the eight-minute barrier, moving to 7:39 down on the yellow jersey.
“I suffered a lot again today and it’s seems like back luck is still following me around because I’ve picked up a bit of a cold,” Nibali revealed.
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“But I still wanted to try something and so I attacked on the descent. I didn’t gain a lot of time but it went well. I can be a little proud of what I did today.”
Nibali was at the centre of attention on the second rest day of last year’s Tour de France, with the media packing his press conference and reporting his every word. The Italian media will no doubt follow him in training and speak to him at length but he is no longer considered an overall contender or even with a chance of finishing on the podium in Paris.
Nibali has set himself the new goal of trying to win a stage. It will be a show of Sicilian pride after failing to live up to expectations at this year’s Tour de France.
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Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
