Having made Steady progress over recent years

Vincenzo Nibali begins this year a changed man. He is on the end of an extraordinary series of results in Grand Tours, having followed a steady rate of improvement since his debut in the Giro d Italia in 2007.

Twentieth in that race was followed by 11th in 2008. In the same year, he finished 18th in his first Tour de France. In 2009, he was seventh at the Tour. And in 2010. he finished third in the Giro and finally clinched a win at the Vuelta a Espana. With only that one hiccup in the 2008 Tour, he's improved his result in every Grand Tour he's taken part in.

And havingjust turned 26, it's likely he'll continue to do make progress. Indeed, he's only seven months older than Andy Schleck, but he's won more Grand Tours.

The Bola del Mundo climb, west of Madrid, was the stage for the Vuelta's final act. It is a lifeless-looking climb, barren, marked by three missile-like antennae at the top. เท the winter, local skiers, who prefer not to travel far, drive up Bola, but not on the road the Vuelta used on September 18. The organiser took the riders up the small service road on the backside of the mountain. Making a hard climb harder, the asphalt turns to concrete three kilometres from the top. Besides the normal expansion gaps every five metres, the horizontal grooves are randomly cut into the cement so that the service cars have better traction in the winter.

Ever since he arrived in Seville for the start of the race. Nibali had been studying the mountain stages on his computer. He clicked on maps, zoomed in on the mountains and virtually climbed Bola using Google Earth. He pointed out difficulties to his room¬mate, Liquigas team-mate Ivan Santaromita, and sometimes called his trainer, Paolo Slongo, on the telephone.
"Besides his physical improvements," says Slongo of Nibali, "he is paying attention to the details and racing more with his head."

Slongo is from Treviso in northern Italy, the same city in which Gino Pinarello started his now-famous bike company. After racing in the amateur ranks. Slongo began coaching the women's national team. He got to know Nibali, who attended the same national
training camps as a junior cyclist. Slongo would sometimes tend to the junior team, when the regularcoach.was . busy. Thei( relationship continued when Slongo joined Liquigas in 2007
"Two years ago, he would be with the leaders, attacking and then falling behind. Now, look at the Bola del Mundo stage; it wa&perfept. y^hen someone is able to race like that, it means brain is clicking. You can't follow a rider attacking, but you can limit the damage, which is what he did."

Mosquera, with the face of a gunslinger in a Spaghetti Western, attacked ahead of Bola's cement section. He immediately gained 10 seconds, but needed more, since he started the day 50 seconds behind Nibali's lead. His lead grew to 16 seconds as he rode through the clouds that gathered at the top. If he arrived at the line first, he would gain an extra eight bonus seconds for the win.
But Nibali had done his homework and the damage limitation began. He started the final section of Bola del Mundo, a Grand Tour hopeful. He finished it a Grand Tour winner.

Posted in: Giro d Italia,Grand Tours,Vincenzo Nibali