Race director Mauro Vegni chats with Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Matt Brammeier (Dimension Data)(Image credit: Dimension Data)
Tony Martin rolls out(Image credit: Sirotti)
The snow atop Monte San Salvino (Image credit: RCS Media Group )
Vincenzo Nibali and Roman Kreuziger chat in the bunch(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Italian polemica that raged after RCS Sport cancelled stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico has passed as quickly as the bad weather that caused all the problems, with Vincenzo Nibali and RCS Sport’s head of cycling Mauro Vegni shaking hands and the Italian still likely to ride the Giro d’Italia and possibly even Saturday’s Milan-San Remo.
On Tuesday it emerged that Nibali has threatened to sue Dimension Data rider Matt Brammeier for a tweet that described Nibali as a “narrow minded, selfish moron”. Nibali felt offended by the tweet, considering it a severe lack of respect. The Astana team also headed to the Etixx-QuickStep bus on Monday morning to talk to Tony Martin, who poured oil on the fire by tweeting: "Matt, you’re a legend! I couldn’t say it better!"
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Nibali’s lawyer Fausto Malucchi will handle the case.
“Were trying to contact the riders involved to see what they say and if they apologise. If that happens I don’t think we’ll take hem to court,” Malucchi said. “We’ve always opted for zero tolerance in defamation cases but as this is a case involving fellow riders, there’s some tolerance.”
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).
