The Shark of Messina

[SL7]

2010

 

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Nibali wears the leader's jersey at the 2010 Vuelta a Espana

Nibali began 2010 in great form by finishing first overall in the Tour de San Luis. He was a last minute addition to Liquigas' Giro d'Italia squad following Franco Pellizotti's last minute withdrawal over Blood Passport irregularities. Nibali wore the Maglia Rosa after his Liquigas-Doimo team won the stage four team time trial, later won the 14th stage and eventually finished third behind his teammate Ivan Basso and David Arroyo. In June, Nibali won the Tour of Slovenia. Later in the season, Nibali won the Trofeo Melinda. Nibali won the Vuelta a España without winning a stage, thanks to consistent high placings on summit stage finishes and the race's two time trials.^[11] He had inherited the race lead after Igor Anton was forced to abandon after crashing on stage 14. This marked his first grand tour victory.

From Wiki

[SL7]

2011

Nibali began 2011 with solid form, taking 5th overall in Tirreno-Adriatico. He also enjoyed a solid classics season, recording 8th place in Milan-San Remo and 8th in Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Nibali was one of the favourites for the Giro d'Italia, with Ivan Basso not riding, giving him sole leadership of Liquigas. He finished third overall behindAlberto Contador and Michele Scarponi, with Nibali and Scarponi fighting over second in the final week when it became apparent the gap to Contador was too large (Contador was later stripped of the title, moving Nibali up to second).

Nibali was also leader of Liquigas at the Vuelta a España. On stage six, Liquigas orchestrated an escape on the descent into Córdoba, but a miscommunication saw Nibali finishing fourth, failing to take any bonus seconds. He moved to third overall on stage 11, behind Sky duo Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Over the Next few stages, Nibali began to chip into Wiggins' lead by taking time bonuses from sprints. However, stage 14 saw Nibali crack on the final climb, putting him out of contention for a podium placing. He finished seventh overall.

2012

 

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Nibali at the 2012 Tour de France

Nibali began the 2012 campaign with second overall in the Tour of Oman, one second behind Peter Velits, winning the queen stage. Nibali finished first overall in the Tirreno-Adriatico after winning stage five. He also won the points classification. In March, Nibali finished third in Milan-San Remo, his first podium finish in a monument.

On Liège-Bastogne-Liège, he broke away solo when he attacked on the descent of the Cote de la Roche aux Faucons and dropped his main challengers with 20 kilometers to go, but he was passed by Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) in sight of the final kilometer (flamme rouge). He held on to finish in second place.^[12]

Nibali chose to focus his attention on the Tour de France, skipping the Giro d'Italia in order to prepare. After a solid first week, Nibali finished fourth on the first summit finish on stage seven to rise to third in the overall standings, sixteen seconds behind leader Wiggins and six behind defending champion Cadel Evans. However, Nibali conceded over two minutes to Wiggins in the time trial on stage nine, where he placed eighth, and slipped to fourth on the GC, behind Wiggins' team mate Froome. On stage ten, Nibali attacked on the descent of the Col du Grand Colombier and linked up with team mate Peter Sagan, but the pair were caught by the Team Sky led peloton. Nibali then accused Wiggins of showing a lack of respect at the stage finish.^[13] Nibali went on the attack again on the following stage, which finished with a climb to La Toussuire, and put time into Wiggins and Froome, only for the pair to drag themselves back to Nibali, although he did move up to third overall after Evans lost time. He attacked again on stage 16 on theCol de Peyresourde with only Wiggins and Froome able to chase. They caught him before the summit but Nibali accelerated again but Wiggins closed the gap and the three of them finished together. Nibali lost time to Wiggins and Froome the following stage, another mountain stage, this time with a summit finish and two stages later in the final individual time trial which Wiggins won. Nibali finished third, the only rider to finish within ten minutes of Wiggins and Froome.

Nibali left Liquigas-Cannondale at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Astana on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards.^[2] The deal has been reported to be a three million Euros a year contract.^[14]

^{from Wiki}

[SL7]

2013

Nibali started his 2013 season in good form finishing 7th in the Tour of Oman and winning the Tirreno–Adriatico. In the latter race, he took the leader's jersey off Froome's shoulders in stage 6, where he escaped with Peter Sagan and Joaquim Rodriguez on a short climb with a gradient of 30%.^[15] He held off Froome in the final time trial. In April, he won the Giro del Trentino on the final stage featuring a mountaintop finish. He took the lead from Maxime Bouet, who had been the overall leader since the second stage. Nibali powered away on the last Hors Category climb, distancing rivals Mauro Santambrogio and Wiggins, who suffered a mechanical issue, and winning the stage in solo fashion.^[16]

 

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Nibali wearing the leader's pink jersey on the final stage of the 2013 Giro d'Italia

Nibali and Wiggins entered the Giro d'Italia as the two favourites for overall victory. Nibali took the leader's Maglia Rosa on stage eight after finishing fourth in the time trial won by Alex Dowsett, conceding only 11 seconds to Wiggins. On stage ten, the first mountain top finish, Nibali finished third behind Rigoberto Uran to extend his lead over second placed Evans to 41 seconds. The rest of the race was severely affected by poor weather conditions. Nibali put further time into his rivals on stage 14, finishing on Monte Jafferau Jafferau, as he and Mauro Santambrogio rode away in freezing conditions, with Nibali allowing Santambrogio to take the stage win. Nibali won stage 18, a mountain time trial, by 58 seconds from Samuel Sánchez, to extend his lead over Evans and Urán to over four minutes. The following stage, scheduled to be the queen stage of the race, had to be cancelled due to snow. Stage 20, the final mountain stage, also saw heavy snow, as Nibali attacked on the final climb to Tre Cime di Lavaredo to win the stage by 17 seconds from Fabio Duarte, with Urán a further two seconds back. Nibali also moved into the lead in the points classification. Nibali safely negotiated the final stage to Brescia to win the Giro by four minutes 43 seconds over Urán, his second Grand tour overall victory. However, as Mark Cavendish collected all the intermediate sprints before winning the final stage, Nibali finished second to the Manxman in the points classification.^[17] At the Vuelta Nibali was vexed as to whether he should chase the red jersey to record his second grand tour in 2013 or reserve his energy for the World Championships to be held just weeks later in his adopted Tuscany. He rode well throughout wearing the red jersey for several stages on his way to second place. Nibali has now worn the leader's jersey more than any other Italian in the history of the Vuelta.

2014

On June 28, Nibali became the 2014 Italian Champion with his first win of 2014 at the Italian National Road Race Championships (Trofeo Melinda).

He then went on to win the 2014 Tour de France. Nibali first secured the leader's yellow jersey on July 6 by winning the 201 km second stage (York / Sheffield, England) of the 2014 Tour de France. He continued to lead the race from stage two through eight, losing it to Frenchman Tony Gallopin in the ninth stage. But he regained it in the tenth stage from Mulhouse to the Planche des Belles Filles after one of his biggest general classification competitors Alberto Contador crashed and abandoned the race, and after catching Joaquim Rodriguez and Michal Kwiatkowski up the final col up the Planche des Belles Filles. He won the stage uncontested and re-donned the yellow jersey on July 14, 2014, Bastille Day in France.^[18] He went on to win the general classification by 7 minutes and 52 seconds, the largest margin of victory in the tour in 17 years.^[19]

^{from Wiki}

[SL7]

Was Vincenzo Nibali’s Tour de France winning bike made by aliens?

 

The Specialized Tarmac SL4 is so supremely good that it feels like it comes from another world. Andrew Critchlow test rides Vincenzo Nibali's Tour winning bike and senses a conspiracy theory

 

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Vincenzo Nibali on his Specialized Tarmac SL4 during the Tour de France

 

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By Andrew Critchlow

11:19AM BST 04 Aug 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/template/ver1-0/i/share/comments.gifComment

 

 

There is a conspiracy theory written somewhere on the internet that claims America has gained an unfair technological advantage over the rest of the world due to the alien secrets it has locked away in Area 51.

 

A magnet for crackpots hoping to catch a glimpse of extraterrestrials running around in the Nevada desert, officially Area 51 doesn’t actually exist. However, the most secretive place in the US is thought to be the birthplace of some of the country’s most advanced and strangely alien looking military kit, such as the Blackbird spy plane and the first stealth bombers.

 

It is also rumoured to be the final resting place of an unfortunate Martian and his spaceship after the two supposedly crashed in nearby New Mexico at a place called Roswell in 1947. According to the conspiracy theorists, America's impressive technological advancements during the latter half of the 20th Century can be traced back to that the poor alien and the remains of his flying saucer.

 

Which brings me to the 2015 S-Works Tarmac SL4, the bike used by Vincenzo Nibali to win the Tour de France. Although Specialized – the Californian company behind the bike – doesn’t claim to have seen any special secrets hidden away in Area 51, the Tarmac looks and feels like a fiendishly clever alien has had a hand in its design. It's a fascinating, masterful, and strangely other-worldly piece of bicycle engineering.

[G e r h a r d Odendaal]

Lo Squalo - our hero forever.

[Jaco-fiets]

Been to Massina, its a bloody awful place. He probably spent all his time on a bike just to get a break to leave that place. Happy it paid off!!!

[SL7]

Messina is known as the door of Sicily. With its port, shaped like a sickle, it has always been a trading city. Situated close to the Peninsular, there has been busy throughfare between Messina and the Mainland, over the centuries. In recent years, there has been much talk of constructing a bridge to facilitate and improve communication. Though a pleasant idea, in theory, this would be almost impossible to implement in practice, due to the fragile nature of the coastline and the problems of erosion. The main mode of transport between Sicily and the motherland remains a system of ferries, as has been the tradition throughout the centuries.

Messina was founded by the Greeks who named it Zancle which is connected to the word Scythe, in the ancient native tongue of the city, and was also the name of the legendary king, who built the harbour, whose name was said to be Zanclus. Following the Roman, Byzantine and Arab invasions, in the latter of which Messina was the last to submit to the Arab yoke, the Normans,Swabians and Angevins came to Sicily left their mark and were either conquered or fled the wrath of native Sicilians. Messina's epoch of glory come with the rule of the Aragon dynasty, who made Messina the capital of the kingdom of Sicily and recognised its value and potential as a port.

Today the city is growing and developing along the coast, and due to the violent earthquakes that have struck the area on several occasions and areal damage and bombardment during the second world war, it is almost completely modern. Learning from past lessons, modern Messina is constructed with safety in mind. Streets are wide and buildings relatively low.

 

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[Jaco-fiets]

What is nice about Massina is the port where you can take a boat and visit a few small islands close by. One in particular is very cool. Maretina is full of singletrack. Would like to take my bike there one day.