Vincenzo Nibali will ride Tour de France to target stages and polka dot jersey
The Italian will line-up in another Grand Tour after finishing second in the Giro d’Italia
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Vincenzo Nibali has announced plans to ride the Tour de France in search of stage wins and the polka dot jersey.
The Bahrain-Merida leader has just finished second in the Giro d’Italia and is already looking ahead to his next targets.
Nibali looked back to his best in his home tour but was unable to close down an unshakeable Richard Carapaz (Movistar), who became the first ever Ecuadorian Grand Tour winner.
The Italian will now line up at the Tour next month, with a different set of goals.
>>> Why the Giro d’Italia 2019 failed to deliver the dramatic spectacle it promised
Speaking after the final stage of the Giro, He told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport (opens in new tab): “It will depend on my condition. I won’t necessarily go for the general classification. We’ll see.
“My idea would be to focus on stages and perhaps the polka dot jersey for the mountain classification.
“I spent a lot of energy in this Giro.”
Nibali has already won all three Grand Tours during his career, and at 34 he may be approaching the end of his three-week best.
But looking strong in the 2018 Tour, Nibali was taken out by a fan on the Alpe d’Huez stage and forced to abandon so we never discovered depth of his form.
His Giro was an entirely different story, as he was the main challenger for the entire race, first to Primož Roglič and then to Carapaz, who he eventually finished 1-05 behind in Verona.
>>> Simon Yates reflects on ‘heart-breaking’ Giro d’Italia 2019
The Giro-Tour double is becoming increasingly common amongst the top tier of GC riders with Nairo Quintana (Movistar) riding both in 2017, finishing second and 12th respectively.
The following year Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) and Chris Froome (Team Ineos) both rode in Italy and France, with Dumoulin finishing second in both while Froome won the Giro and finished third in the Tour.
Dumoulin had intended to ride the double this year, but crashed out of the Giro in the first week and is now all-in for the Tour.
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Alex Ballinger is editor of BikeBiz magazine, the leading publication for the UK cycle industry, and is the former digital news editor for CyclingWeekly.com. After gaining experience in local newsrooms, national newspapers and in digital journalism, Alex found his calling in cycling, first as a reporter, then as news editor responsible for Cycling Weekly's online news output, and now as the editor of BikeBiz. Since pro cycling first captured his heart during the 2010 Tour de France (specifically the Contador-Schleck battle) Alex covered three Tours de France, multiple editions of the Tour of Britain, and the World Championships, while both writing and video presenting for Cycling Weekly. He also specialises in fitness writing, often throwing himself into the deep end to help readers improve their own power numbers. Away from the desk, Alex can be found racing time trials, riding BMX and mountain bikes, or exploring off-road on his gravel bike. He’s also an avid gamer, and can usually be found buried in an eclectic selection of books.
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