It is still uncertain whether or not Vincenzo Nibali will ride the Vuelta a España, the third and final Grand Tour of the season, in a bid to get over a disappointing Tour de France.
The Sicilian fell well short in his ambition to defend the yellow jersey he won last year but salvaged his race with a late stage win in the Alps. That was a second win in what has been a disappointing season by Nibali’s standards and the Astana team has been open about the possibility of sending the rider to the Vuelta in August and September. Given the way he improved towards the latter stages of the Tour, he may represent Astana's best chance of salvaging a Grand Tour win from this season, otherwise Fabio Aru will lead the line.
Cyclingnews understands that Nibali has met up with his family and will have a few days off before meeting with Paolo Slongo and Alexander Schefer to make a final decision, based on what sort of condition he is in after coming through the Tour.
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“If Vincenzo goes to the Vuelta it’s really important that he has a good condition to support the ambitions of the Astana team. The plan is to go to the Vuelta to win, with Vincenzo, or Fabio Aru, and it’s really important that the condition is very good, to support these ambitions. He will probably make the decision next Saturday,” Nibali’s agent Alex Carera told Cyclingnews.
The Vuelta might be in the immediate future but Nibali’s longer-term plans have also been under the spotlight. The 30-year-old has another year left on his contract with Astana and should be exempt from the rumour mill that ratchets up at this time of year.
However, Astana general manager Alexandr Vinokourov hit the headlines during the Tour when he was reported to have told Nibali, after a disappointing first day in the Pyrenees, that he could find another team for 2016. Furthermore, on Tuesday morning Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested that Nibali will not renew with Astana for 2017 and that he has ambitions of forming an Italian-based outfit in the future.
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