Top Italian rider Vincenzo Nibali will tomorrow go under the knife in Lucca, using this most quiet time of the season to get a overdue operation done. According to various media reports, the 25 year old Liquigas rider will be treated by Enrico Castellacci, the Italian national football team doctor. He will remove a plate and screws in his collarbone.
They were originally inserted after he crashed on the fifth stage of the 2009 Eneco Tour, suffering the fracture. Now, some 14 months later, he has developed into one of the strongest riders in the world and wants to ensure that he doesn’t want to run into any difficulties as a result of the previous procedure.
Nibali had a superb 2010, winning the overall classification in the Vuelta a España, taking a stage plus third overall in the Giro d’Italia, and also triumphing in the Tour de San Luis, the Tour of Slovenia and the Trofeo Melinda. He was one of the strongest riders in the Tour of Lombardy but crashed out on a rain-slickened descent, losing his chance.
On Saturday, he was present at the unveiling of the 2011 Vuelta route. He has said that he wants to try to win the race, making it likely that this year’s winner Ivan Basso will target the Tour de France. The two Italians are team-mates on the Liquigas-Doimo squad.