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This entry was posted on October 4, 2015 at 18:22.
And go! Finally we take off this mangy burden. Finally in a great classic is back to play the national anthem. A little ‘healthy nationalism, at least in cycling, sometimes it takes.
After seven years of trouble, and an endless series of disappointments, the Tour of Lombardy back to an Italian champion. Vincenzo Nibali, 30, said the Shark of Messina, with its tricolor jersey, it does what it does best when it smells the prey. Attacking uphill and then bites down. And it does exactly where he had said on the ramp of Civiglio, when there are approximately 17 kilometers to the finish in Como.
Vincent, closely followed by the Spaniard Valverde and French Pinot, takes three times in a row. Three bites dried, of those who do evil. The group shelling but then comes together. The two pursuers do not give up. So Vincenzo stages his specialty: the attack dive with ride to the finish line.
And a moment: the descent of the Sicilian Civiglio, leaning as Valentino Rossi, disappears in the space of two curves risking everything for everything. Are moments of thrill, even a motorcycle caravan, squeezing, he is likely to make it go belly up. But Nibali, like a tightrope walker, can be slipped into the corridor from fear. And behind, to stop the chasing pack, there mate Diego Rosa, also a star of the race. As a “safety car” Diego holds remote trackers, slows down, breaking changes. “We just have fun!” Say later at the finish line.
The only one not to surrender is Spanish Moreno. That last ramp, San Fermo, gnawing Nibali twenty seconds. Moments of fear. Once before, in Lombardy in 2011, after a daring attack on the Ghisallo, Vincent had been taken. But now the shark can smell the victory. Scollina and again reopen the gas until the finish.
Even Moreno forget. Too strong this Sicilian who, since he was expelled from the Vuelta runs with anger in the body. But even with the cold determination of those looking for redemption. First help, then the Three Valleys. And now the grand finale with this win at the Giro di Lombardia. The last to win it, in 2008, was Damiano Cunego. It seems another era, another story, another film.
Closes, even symbolically, the great crisis of Italian cycling. Because to win this classic-monument was not a runner any. But the champion Sicilian, a talent that has emerged in the Vuelta (2010), the Tour of Italy (2013) and the Tour de France (2014), that is the most important stage races in cycling. Very few riders able to link its name to events as diverse and important. Nibali is managed by redeeming a season full of ups and downs in both performance and in dealing with his team.
“It ‘a special day,” says Vincenzo almost with tears in his eyes. “I won the Lombardy and is the birthday of my wife Rachel. A wonderful victory because this has been a difficult season. A win ‘important to me and it is important for the whole team. We had prepared well and in fact we have always dell’Astana gestitola race. De Rosa has been very good, especially when I went way downhill. So I told him: stop, now do not pull over … I had to invent something at that point, because uphill could not make a difference. I’m really happy … “
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