Thanks for sticking it out with me through Nibali Week! I know I couldn’t stand to let this moment pass without going back over this amazing career, and I hope a few of you are similarly obsessed with such things. He really is (soon to be, was) one of the greatest entertainers we have seen in the sport of cycling since the new millennium.
The final race I want to call attention to as part of telling Nibali’s story was his victory in the 2016 Giro d’Italia. It was his last grand tour title, at age 31, after which Father Time and improving, younger competition made his struggles more profound. But before we can be done writing the story of his career, we have to take on the subject of suffering.
Nibali’s recent interview at Cycling News talked briefly about this race, and separately about his learning how to suffer as a young rider working in the Fassa Bortolo and Liquigas systems. In contrast to guys like Tadej Pogačar, Remco Evenepoel, Egan Bernal and the rest of the current crop of incredible young shooting stars, Nibali did not become an overnight success. Yes, he had early success and showed character by placing high in time trials at a young age, but it took years in the pro ranks before he was even told to race for himself in a grand tour. That ability to suffer was always there — hence the ITT results — but years of service drove that point home to where he was mentally tougher than most. Talent and toughness can be a little bit in conflict with each other, though in saying that I am not casting aspersions on the young guys named above. No, there are plenty of other super talented guys who never learned how to truly suffer and don’t warrant a mention in an article like this.
But anyway, Nibali certainly did learn to suffer, to fully commit himself, early and often, in part because his talent was such that he couldn’t win big races on that basis alone. As time went on, he learned the art of knowing when to go deepest, the art of patience and reading a race. So when things came to a head, if Nibali had the form, he was going to be there.
Photo by Mauro Ujetto/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Giro Win That Fell From Heaven
His final grand tour victory in 2016, best remembered for Dutch guys and snowbanks, was pure Nibali. Following his historic Tour victory in 2014, Nibali naturally went back to France to defend his…
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