The victory of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) in the Vuelta a España was the first Grand Tour triumph for the Sicilian. Last year’s Tour de France was when he began to come of age as a three-week rider, finishing seventh in the race. This year he netted third in the Giro d’Italia, while riding in support of team captain Ivan Basso; his Vuelta win shows that he will emerge as the next Italian stage race rider, according to Jean-François Bernard in his column in l’Equipe.
"At 25, Vincenzo Nibali is a young Italian rider who rides very well,” said Bernard. “He is good in the mountains, very good in time trials and has already competed twice in the Tour de France, when we did not talk about him much; he also finished 7th in the 2009 Tour.
“This year he was third in the Giro and wins the Vuelta in the wake of it... He’s a rider that stands out among the Italians; for me, he’s the successor to Basso. Nibali will always be there in Grand Tours, even if he does not win often. In my opinion, he is the next great Italian rider for three-week stage races.”
As well as Nibali’s strength in the Vuelta, it was his calmness and poise that impressed Bernard.
“In the Vuelta, he was always regular,” he explained. “He did everything without panicking, and was always there in the difficult parts; he was measured, he didn’t make short bursts. He was always placed and never let up in the mountains, even when it was hard; he managed his race superbly.
“In the time trial, he distanced himself from Rodriguez,” he continued. “Day after day, he dismissed all his opponents; he was left with just Ezequiel Mosquera, in Saturday's stage [to the Bola del Mundo] which was decisive.
“He did not panic,” he said of Nibali’s ride on the steepest section of the climb, “he let Mosquera get ahead because he knew he was not as good as him in the very difficult parts. Then he returned to his rhythm; he had great composure.”
This victory is the confirmation of Nibali’s abilities, and the shape of things to come for the Italian.
“I see the affirmation of Nibali in Grand Tours from this Vuelta,” he said. “It was not easy for him; he was the favourite and he handled the pressure very well. He finished 3rd in the Giro, as was expected. To go and win in Spain is always hard, because there's always a horde of Spaniards who are there. [Ezequiel] Mosquera was there; whom I thought was at a disadvantage to [Igor] Antón, who crashed out.
“That certainly added a bit of spice to the Vuelta,” he said. “These are the three riders that would have finished on the podium. The third place finisher, Peter Velits, benefited from the abandonment of Antón.
“Nibali might have had more trouble with Antón,” he added. “But crashing is part of racing. Nibali is a rider who arrived three years ago and continues to confirm and get better and better.”
This year, Liquigas-Doimo won the Giro with Basso and the Vuelta with Nibali; if Nibali turned his sights towards the Tour next year he could turn the expected Contador-Schleck battle into a three-way fight.