Italian wins Le Tour de France for the first time in 16 years!
La Squalo (The Shark) Vincenzo Nibali has well and truly made his mark on the cycling world this weekend as Le Tour de France reached its final curtain call in Paris.
Having been included in the PhysioRoom.com Tour de France Favourites, the Italian truly dominated the race from outset.
The 29-year old, who now holds overall victories in Le Tour de France, Giro d։talia (2013) and Vuelta a Espana (2010) commanded the race from day two in Yorkshire amongst scenes of crashes and drop outs in the General Classification. Though big names such as Andrew Talansky, Alberto Contador and Chris Froome may have all fallen short of even completing the race, such was Nibaliֳ dominance that it is hard to see whether either of the big two Froome and Contador could have contended with the Italian anyway.
Unfortunately for the National Road Champion questions over his tour will no doubt be pondered for years to come. Could he have won had Froome been fit? Could he have survived in the mountains against Contador? For La Squalo, though he may have his detractors, he also has the title of being one of only six cyclists to have won all three Grand Tours and is the current Italian National Champion. A worthy winner? Absolutely.
Nibali first won the maillot jaune on the second racing day in Blighty as the peloton traversed the 201km from York to Sheffield and continued to lead the pack through to stage eight before winning it again later in the race. In fact, the Nibali held the jersey for a total of 18 of the 21 race days, cruising to victory with a time of seven minutes and 37 seconds – the longest time advantage in 17 years.
Becoming the first Italian to win Le Tour since Marco Pantaniֳ romantic victory in 1998, La Squalo will no doubt become hot property now that Le Tour is over. Owing his victory to a technique best described as relentless dominance, the Astana rider won four stages and the King of the Mountains jersey at stage 13 with his team of domestiques Рsome of the finest in the business.
Though questions will remain and the ghosts of Froome and Contador will no doubt loom over his shoulders, for now Vincenzo Nibali is Italyֳ golden boy and will no doubt be already planning his defence in 2015.
Author: Toby Cryne