Vincenzo Nibali's every move has been followed closely by a sizeable platoon of journalists on this Giro d'Italia, and they were always going to keep their appointment after the Italian champion lost 2:10 in the space of 10.8 ill-starred kilometres during Sunday's mountain time trial to Alpe di Siusi.
An ashen-faced Nibali declined to speak directly after the finish, however, and so for 45 minutes the reporters stood in line outside the anti-doping caravan near the finish line, patiently waiting for him to emerge.
Much like the first day of a Papal conclave, there false alarms aplenty, but no white smoke. At one point, Astana's press officer was even delegated to fetch a couple of bottles of water and can of Coke to expedite the process, but still the wait continued. Nothing to be done.
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Once Nibali eventually did emerge, he caught the television crews and reporters flat-footed by hopping straight onto his bike and pedalling off to his waiting team car 400 metres down the road. More out of duty than in hope, they jogged after him, but by that point Nibali had already settled into the passenger seat and shook his head apologetically when asked to roll down his window.
Directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli sat in alongside him and was already turning the key in the ignition when the scrum tried another tack, approaching Nibali via the driver's side window. "We'll think it over and then we'll talk about it tomorrow," Martinelli said quietly, but Nibali agreed to make a brief comment.
"Today I paid. Yesterday Valverde paid, maybe the day after tomorrow Kruijswijk could pay, I don't know. You have to accept results like that," Nibali said of his 25th place finish in the day's time trial, which now leaves him 2:51 behind Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL-Jumbo) on general classification. "There was a bit of irritation at the finish, but it's normal that after the race you have to catch your breath and it's hard to think about responding to questions straight away."
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