Nibali lists Scarponi as biggest threat for 2011 Giro d'Italia victory
Sicilian ready for Riccò's challenge
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) has said that Michele Scarponi (Lampre) will be his biggest rival for overall vict🐓ory at the Giro d’Italia, but he acknowledg▨ed that Riccardo Riccò will also pose a significant threat.
“For 2011, my rival at the Giro will be Scarponi,” Nibali told Gazzetta dello Sport. “That’s not to u😼ndervalue Riccò, who will be returning to three-week races🎃.”
Nibali locked horns with Riccò on several occasions as an amateur and he is looking forward to renewiꩵng a♕cquaintances with his erstwhile rival on one of cycling’s biggest stages.
Riccò returned to racing last March after serving a suspension for CERA use but he failed to secure a﷽n invitation to last year’s Giro. His Vacansoleil team secured a ProTeam licence for 2011, however, and Riccò is set to feature at the Giro.
“He’s a tough and unpredictable adversary, who’s capable of blufಞfing,” Nibali explained. “He’s a year older than me, so I came up against [Giovanni] Visconti more often.
“However, I remember a duel at the amateur national championships, where Riccò won riding very strꦰongly. Now he’s back after a long lay-off. He has to get back into the game, also in terms of credibility.”
Riding the Giro without Basso
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Nibali finished 3rd at the 2010 Giro behind overa🦄ll winner and teammate Ivan Basso. With the latter focusing his energies on the Tour de France this year, Nibali looks set to be handed the reins of Liquigas leadership at the Giro. He insists that his Giro challenge will not suffer from Basso’s anticipated absence.
“I’m not worried, last year I gained experience by winning the Vuelta as a leader,” Nibali said. “It’s right that ev🍌erybody concentrates on his own objective, in order to avoid conflicts. Ivan and I are always comparing notes, even by phone, and he continues to give me advice.”
As in 2010, when he won the Vuelta a Espana after finishing on the podium at the Giro, Nibali expects to ride two Grand Tours this season. The Sicilian hinted at a possible return to the Tour de France, where he finished 7🔯th in 20﷽09.
“I’ve had the Giro ꦏin my head for months,” he said. “B♔ut afterwards, I could help Basso at the Tour.”
For now, however, Nibali is fully focu🃏sed on his home tour.
“[Winning the Giro] would show that I’m not a flash in the pan and it woဣuld be the realisation of a dream,” Nibali said. “ꦯThe people are waiting for it, they want an Italian to win the Grand Tours in the future as well.
“On the street they only ask me about the Giro, they don’t talk about the Tour. The Giro for us is passion, it’s Coppi’s race, the race that has marked our history. And then a Giro that goes throug𓆏h Messina is special.”
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Ja🐼pan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of , published by Gill Bookꦛs.