Vincenzo Nibali chases for second at Il Lombradia(Image credit: Getty Images)
Vincenzo Nibali climbs to Balcón de Bizkaia during stage 17 at the Vuelta(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Vincenzo Nibali and Primoz Roglic on the attack at Il Lombardia(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Vincenzo Nibali sits at the back in the team time trial(Image credit: David Ramos/Getty Images)
Vincenzo Nibali showed off his descending and gravel riding skills as he tested a disc brake bike in preparation for swapping caliper brakes for discs for the 2019 road season.
Nibali posted several on-board videos on his Instagram account made with his brother and fellow Bahrain-Merida rider Antonio.
His younger brother struggled to stay with Vincenzo while the older rider dived down a long descent of the San Baronto hill in Tuscany, as the track switched from single-track to farm track, olive groves and narrow country lanes. Nibali showed off his bike skills by riding at over 40km/h, carefully but comfortably modulating his speed with the disc brakes.
The Shark of Messina celebrated his 34th birthday last week and revealed that Merida sent him the disc-brake bike as a birthday present.
Cyclingnews understands that Nibali will use a disc-brake in some races in 2019.
“I took two days off social media, but I want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes I was sent,” Nibali said in the video.
“I want to show you something that Merida sent me for my birthday. I’ve just been able to test it out and it’s amazing. I’ve had a lot of fun with it today.”
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Nibali briefly showed what appears to be the Merida Mission CX 8000-E cyclo-cross bike. He posted a series videos of his high-speed descent of the secrets tracks down San Baronto.
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).
