Nibali confident ahead of Vuelta defence

Vincenzo Nibali leads teammate Ivan Basso

Vincenzo Nibali leads teammate Ivan Basso (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)

After spending the last week checking out climbs that are new to him, Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) says that he has the motivation and form to put up a strong defence of his Vuelta a España title. Speaking on the eve of the race, the Liquigas rider also picked out Igor Antón and Joaquim Rodríguez as his two biggest rivals.

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Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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