Vincenzo Nibali is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, considered one of the
strongest stage race riders in the world today. He rides for the Kazakhstani UCI ProTeam Astana.
Born near the Strait of Messina, his nickname is the "Shark of the Strait", "the Shark of
Messina" or simply "The Shark". He is also referred to as "Nibbles." His first major
win came at the 2006 GP Ouest-France, where he beat an impressive field on a tough course.
However, experts such as Michele Bartoli have said Nibali is most suited to competing in
multi-stage races. Nibali's biggest wins are the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2013 Giro d'Italia,
and the 2014 Tour de France, making him one of six cyclists who have won the three Grand
Tours in their career. He has also won two editions of the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race.
Early life Vincenzo Nibali was born on 14 November 1984
in Messina, Sicily, the son of Salvatore and Giovanna. In order to become a cyclist, he
left his hometown Messina and moved to Tuscany at the age of sixteen. For ten months of the
year, he lived in the house of his ex-directeur sportif, Carlo Franceschi, in Mastromarco,
near Lamporecchio. Career
Early career Nibali finished third at the Junior World
Time Trial Championship in 2002 and also third at the U-23 World Time Trial Championship
in 2004. He turned professional in 2005 with Fassa Bortolo. In 2006, Nibali signed with
Liquigas. In that year, he won the French classic GP Ouest-France at 21 years of age.
He also finished in second position overall of the 2.1 rated Settimana internazionale
di Coppi e Bartali, taking the win on the first stage. In 2007, Nibali rode the Giro
d'Italia for the first time and finished 19th overall. 2008 saw Nibali finish 10th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege,
obtaining also an 11th place finish in the Giro d'Italia and a 20th place finish in the
Tour de France. 2009
2009 saw Nibali record a win in the Giro dell'Appennino where he attacked almost 50 km from the finish
to win solo. Another victory in 2009 was the Gran Premio Città di Camaiore. He finished
sixth overall in the Tour of California and ninth overall in Tour of the Basque Country,
before sharing leadership of Liquigas at the Tour de France with Roman Kreuziger. Nibali
proved the stronger of the two and finished in seventh place overall, then his best placing
in a grand tour. 2010
Nibali began 2010 in great form by finishing first overall in the Tour de San Luis. He
was a last minute addition to Liquigas' Giro d'Italia squad following Franco Pellizotti's
last minute withdrawal over Blood Passport irregularities. Nibali wore the Maglia Rosa
after his Liquigas-Doimo team won the stage four team time trial, later won the 14th stage
and after some good climbing through the rest of the race, he managed to finish on the podium
finishing third behind his teammate Ivan Basso and David Arroyo. In June, Nibali won the
Tour of Slovenia. Later in the season, Nibali won the Trofeo Melinda. Nibali won the Vuelta
a España without winning a stage, thanks to consistent high placings on summit stage
finishes and the race's two time trials. He had inherited the race lead after Igor Anton
was forced to abandon after crashing on stage 14. Though he lost it to Joaquim Rodriguez,
he later regained it on the final time trial. This marked his first grand tour victory.
2011 Nibali began 2011 with solid form, taking
5th overall in Tirreno-Adriatico. He also enjoyed a solid classics season, recording
8th place in Milan-San Remo and 8th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Nibali was one of the favourites for the Giro
d'Italia, with Ivan Basso not riding, giving him sole leadership of Liquigas. Though he
entered the race as a big favorite, he could not match Alberto Contador throughout much
of the mountains. He still managed to stay in the top three throughout much of the race.
He finished third overall behind Alberto Contador and Michele Scarponi, with Nibali and Scarponi
fighting over second in the final week when it became apparent the gap to Contador was
too large. Nibali was also leader of Liquigas at the
Vuelta a España. On stage six, Liquigas orchestrated an escape on the descent into Córdoba, but
a miscommunication saw Nibali finishing fourth, failing to take any bonus seconds. He moved
to third overall on stage 11, behind Sky duo Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Over the
Next few stages, Nibali began to chip into Wiggins' lead by taking time bonuses from
sprints. However, stage 14 saw Nibali crack on the final climb, putting him out of contention
for a podium placing. He finished seventh overall.
2012
Nibali began the 2012 campaign with second overall in the Tour of Oman, one second behind
Peter Velits, winning the queen stage. Nibali finished first overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico
after winning stage five. He also won the points classification. In March, Nibali finished
third in Milan-San Remo, his first podium finish in a monument.
On Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he broke away solo when he attacked on the descent of the Cote
de la Roche aux Faucons and dropped his main challengers with 20 kilometers to go, but
he was passed by Maxim Iglinsky in sight of the final kilometer. He held on to finish
in second place. Nibali chose to focus his attention on the
Tour de France, skipping the Giro d'Italia in order to prepare. After a solid first week,
Nibali finished fourth on the first summit finish on stage seven to rise to third in
the overall standings, sixteen seconds behind leader Wiggins and six behind defending champion
Cadel Evans. However, Nibali conceded over two minutes to Wiggins in the time trial on
stage nine, where he placed eighth, and slipped to fourth on the GC, behind Wiggins' team
mate Froome. On stage ten, Nibali attacked on the descent of the Col du Grand Colombier
and linked up with team mate Peter Sagan, but the pair were caught by the Team Sky led
peloton. Nibali then accused Wiggins of showing a lack of respect at the stage finish. Nibali
went on the attack again on the following stage, which finished with a climb to La Toussuire,
and put time into Wiggins and Froome, only for the pair to drag themselves back to Nibali,
although he did move up to third overall after Evans lost time. He attacked again on stage
16 on the Col de Peyresourde with only Wiggins and Froome able to chase. They caught him
before the summit but Nibali accelerated again but Wiggins closed the gap and the three of
them finished together. Nibali lost time to Wiggins and Froome the following stage, another
mountain stage, this time with a summit finish and two stages later in the final individual
time trial which Wiggins won. Nibali finished third, the only rider to finish within ten
minutes of Wiggins and Froome. Nibali left Liquigas-Cannondale at the end
of the 2012 season, and joined Astana on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.
The deal has been reported to be a three million Euros a year contract.
2013 Nibali started his 2013 season in good form
finishing 7th in the Tour of Oman and winning the Tirreno–Adriatico. In the latter race,
he took the leader's jersey off Froome's shoulders in stage 6, where he escaped with Peter Sagan
and Joaquim Rodriguez on a short climb with a gradient of 30%. He held off Froome in the
final time trial. In April, he won the Giro del Trentino on the final stage featuring
a mountaintop finish. He took the lead from Maxime Bouet, who had been the overall leader
since the second stage. Nibali powered away on the last Hors Category climb, distancing
rivals Mauro Santambrogio and Wiggins, who suffered a mechanical issue, and winning the
stage in solo fashion.
Nibali and Wiggins entered the Giro d'Italia as the two favourites for overall victory.
Nibali took the leader's Maglia Rosa on stage eight after finishing fourth in the time trial
won by Alex Dowsett, conceding only 11 seconds to Wiggins. On stage ten, the first mountain
top finish, Nibali finished third behind Rigoberto Uran to extend his lead over second placed
Evans to 41 seconds. The rest of the race was severely affected by poor weather conditions.
Nibali put further time into his rivals on stage 14, finishing on Monte Jafferau Jafferau,
as he and Mauro Santambrogio rode away in freezing conditions, with Nibali allowing
Santambrogio to take the stage win. Nibali won stage 18, a mountain time trial, by 58
seconds from Samuel Sánchez, to extend his lead over Evans and Urán to over four minutes.
The following stage, scheduled to be the queen stage of the race, had to be cancelled due
to snow. Stage 20, the final mountain stage, also saw heavy snow, as Nibali attacked on
the final climb to Tre Cime di Lavaredo to win the stage by 17 seconds from Fabio Duarte,
with Urán a further two seconds back. Nibali also moved into the lead in the points classification.
Nibali safely negotiated the final stage to Brescia to win the Giro by four minutes 43
seconds over Urán, his second Grand tour overall victory. However, as Mark Cavendish
collected all the intermediate sprints before winning the final stage, Nibali finished second
to the Manxman in the points classification. At the Vuelta Nibali was vexed as to whether
he should chase the red jersey to record his second grand tour in 2013 or reserve his energy
for the World Championships to be held just weeks later in his adopted Tuscany. He captured
the race lead on stage 4 though losing it on stage 8, he managed to regain it on stage
11, a time trial. He rode well throughout wearing the red jersey for several stages
maintaing his race lead through much of the race. Nibali has now worn the leader's jersey
more than any other Italian in the history of the Vuelta. He lost his race read though
on stage 19 to Chris Horner. He attacked Horner many times during the final mountain stage
on the steep Angliru but he cracked in the end finishing 4th on that stage. He finished
2nd overall in the general classification. 2014
After winning the Giro in 2013, the Tour de France became the main objective for Nibali's
2014 season. Throughout much of his season before the Tour,
Nibali showed quiet form before the Tour with no race victories and high finishes. He was
also criticized by the Italian press after a disappointing Criterium du Dauphine.
On June 28, Nibali became the 2014 Italian Champion with his first win of 2014 at the
Italian National Road Race Championships. He then went on to win the 2014 Tour de France.
Nibali first secured the leader's yellow jersey on July 6 by winning the 201 km second stage
of the 2014 Tour de France after breaking away right before the finish. On stage 5,
he gained over 2 minutes over a majority of the GC contenders. He continued to lead the
race from stage two through eight, losing it to Frenchman Tony Gallopin in the ninth
stage. But he regained it in the tenth stage from Mulhouse to the Planche des Belles Filles
after one of his biggest general classification competitors Alberto Contador crashed and abandoned
the race, and after catching Joaquim Rodriguez and Michal Kwiatkowski up the final col up
the Planche des Belles Filles. He won the stage uncontested and re-donned the yellow
jersey on July 14, 2014, Bastille Day in France. Nibali then won stage 13 into Chamrousse after
passing Leopold Konig and Rafal Majka near the top. He would continue to show his dominance
through the rest of the Tour and on stage 18 into Hautcam he attacked from the early
slopes of the climb and he would win the stage finishing over a minute ahead of second place
rider Thibaut Pinot. This gave him his fourth and final stage victory. He finished with
an excellent 4th place finish in the final time trial. He went on to win the general
classification by 7 minutes and 52 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the tour
in 17 years. The next race for Nibali was on 16 September at the Coppa Bernocchi. He
finished in the lead group after attacking several times during the event.
Personal life Nibali moved to Lugano in the spring of 2012
with his girlfriend. The couple got married in October 2012 and has a daughter.
Nibali has a younger brother, Antonio, who rides for Marchiol Emisfero in Italy.
Major achievements
Grand Tour general classification results timeline
WD = Withdrew; IP = In Progress References
External links Media related to Vincenzo Nibali at Wikimedia
Commons Vincenzo Nibali at Trap-Friis.dk. Archive
copy at the Wayback Machine