Twenty-four hours after Vincenzo Nibali’s terrible day in the stage 15 mountain time trial at the Giro d’Italia the atmosphere in the Astana team was still sombre and downbeat, like the weather that had descended on the race forcing most riders to take to the rollers rather than go for a proper training ride.
The Astana team was staying in the mountain holiday town of Ortisei, in a hotel call Hell. Destiny has a funny way of combining with the events at the Giro d’Italia and Nibali has endured a hellish 24 hours. Two days ago, he was still firmly a contender for overall victory at the Giro d’Italia. After his disastrous time trial performance, however, he slipped to third and 2:51 down on race leader Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo).
Nibali did not shy away from speaking to the media soon after his time trial and had the courage to face the media again on the rest day. He took questions of every kind, most from the Italian media and tried to find some optimism and determination while also admitting that he only really has a chance of winning the Giro d’Italia if Kruijswijk cracks somewhere between the Dolomites and the finish in Turin next Sunday.
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Nibali bravely faced the questions alone, with only Astana press officer Geoffrey Pizzorni at his side to decide the order of the questions from the 30 or so media that huddled round him and listened to his ever word. There was no sign of team manager Alexander Vinokourov, who was at the time trial, or directeur sportif Alexandre Shefer and Giuseppe Martinelli. They like to share in the glow of the limelight of success when Nibali wins but there was no moral support in times of defeat.
Nibali’s coach Paolo Slongo sat quietly and listened carefully from behind the huge fireplace that was a natural backdrop to the press conference. Slongo looked as defeated as Nibali.
“It’s going to be difficult now due to the lead that Kruijswijk has but we’re not giving up yet,” he said, trying to convince himself as much as the media that was quizzing him about what had happened.
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