Nibali Week: A Man For the Classics Too

Day four of Nibali Week and it’s time to really stretch out our view of him as the most complete rider of his time. It’s time to talk about the Classics.

Quick tale of the tape: Of his 52 career wins going into this weekend, he has won 13 times in one-day races, including three monuments and another World Tour event, plus a smattering of Italian races and two national road race titles. But there are two races which stand out the most from his career: his Milano-Sanremo win, and his loss in the 2012 Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Before getting to those, however, I would be remiss in not mentioning a couple other events. In 2006, barely 16 months into his pro career, Nibali stunned Juan Flecha and Manuele Mori at the GP Ouest France-Plouay classic, a major victory for the 21-year-old on a punchy course where sprinters often contest the finale. The race had added some small climbs later in the race to encourage attacks, and Nibali had escaped with Flecha, just ahead of Mori. Inside the final 100 meters, Nibali went for it and outkicked the Spanish classics ace for a shocking win.

The LBL Loss

Nibali has suggested that his biggest regret is missing out on what would have been his first major classics milestone, a victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2012. He was flying that spring, having won Tirreno and come close at MSR, making the escape but conceding the sprint to Simon Gerrans ahead of Fabian Cancellara. LBL, still a murderer’s row of climbs and finishing in Ans via the old, difficult approach, seemed like a better bet, and he nearly pulled off a stunner. Going solo from the Côte de Roche aux Faucons, 20km from the line, Nibali was only caught by a lone rider, Max Iglinsky, and not until the red kite was in sight. But Iglinsky timed his effort better, came past Nibali, and it was the Kazakh who soloed home to glory.

LBL would have been massive for him and his legacy, looking back ten years later. It’s really the only prize from his grand tours/monuments campaign that he missed out on, accepting that he was never going to win Flanders or Roubaix. Six of the eight most coveted trophies… that would have been cool.

Photo credit should read LUK…