Astana team director Giuseppe Martinelli has confirmed that 2013 Giro d’Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali will not be at the start of the Italian Grand Tour this May.
Speculation and unconfirmed reports had been circulating that Nibali might take part in the Giro d’Italia alongside teammate Fabio Aru, third in the 2014 Giro d’Italia and the Astana leader for this year’s race. But Martinelli insists that won’t be the case.
Asked if it was 100 per cent certain that Nibali would not race in the Giro, Martinelli told Cyclingnews, “yes, yes, it’s definitive.”
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“He has the Tour de France in his head and he’s 100 per cent focused on that.”
Whilst Martinelli’s comments resolve any doubts about Nibali’s objectives in the mid-term, short-term the Italian is currently down to take part in all three Ardennes Classics, as in 2014. Last year, Nibali finished 52nd in Amstel Gold, 14th in la Fleche Wallonne and 30th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
La Doyenne, on paper, is where Nibali is at his strongest, where he took a memorable second place in 2012 following a gutsy late lone attack that only fell apart on the final ascent to Ans. And Martinelli confirmed that Nibali will be building up in the first two Ardennes Classics “so his confidence is at 100 per cent for Liege. It’s only by being in these one-day races right from the word go that you feel at ease when it matters.”
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