Defending champion in strong position and riding calmly
Defending Vuelta a España champion Vincenzo Nibali bided his time on yesterday’s eleventh stage of the Vuelta a España, showing confidence in deciding to save his energy and not try to steal seconds over the new overall leader Bradley Wiggins.
The Italian Liquigas-Cannondale rider finished in the same group as Wiggins, three minutes and eight seconds behind the day’s winner David Moncoutie (Cofidis), and hinted afterwards that he could have ridden more aggressively in the finale.
“I prefered not to respond to Joaquim’s attack…I knew he wasn’t going to gain many seconds,” he said after the stage, talking about a seven-second time gain by Katusha’s Joaquim Rodriguez. “This climb was not hard enough to make big differences. I’ve had a good day. I’ve moved from fourth to third on GC because Fuglsang has dropped down. This is a positive outcome.”
Nibali starts today’s twelfth stage eleven seconds behind Wiggins. Although the Briton is riding very strongly in the mountains, surprising many, there is a question mark over how he will perform on climbs such as the Angliru. In the past he has fared better on power climbs rather than the steeper walls which favour the pure climbers. Some feel that the harder ascents may play into the favour of other riders, although Wiggins will hope this is not the case.
Nibali knows it’s early days yet, and so he seems content to bide his time and to try to gain time back a little later in the race.
For the rider who finished one place ahead of him in the Giro d’Italia, yesterday was a different story. Giro runner-up Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) cracked close to the end and finished with the rider who had been second overall, Jakob Fuglsang (Leopard Trek), double Vuelta winner Denis Menchov (Geox TMC) and his team-mate, 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.
These conceded 27 seconds to the Wiggins-Nibali group, and dropped Scarponi further out of contention. He is now 22nd overall, a distant four minutes 29 seconds back.
“I didn’t see Wiggins pulling or “Purito” attacking because I was just suffering too much and wondering how I’d make it to the top,” he admitted afterwards, showing how hard he found the climb.
“It’s not a surprise to see Wiggins leading the race now. Froome put himself at his disposal and Team Sky has been strong all day.”
The Vuelta a España continues today with a mainly flat stage to Pontevedra. The next big summit finish is on Saturday’s race to the top of La Farrapona.