Alexandre Vinokourov hugged Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) after he gained enough time in stage 20 to take the pink jersey from Esteban Chaves and set up overall victory at the Giro d'Italia. The Astana team is in its tenth season and was hoping to continue its run of Grand Tour success in 2016 after winning the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana in recent seasons.
The Kazakhstani team manager has often clashed with Nibali in recent years but praised him for the way he fought back from adversity after losing time in the Dolomites last weekend. Vinokourov praised the whole of the Astana team, hinting that victory in the Giro d'Italia could even play a part in convincing Nibali to turn down an offer from the new Bahrain Cycling Team and stay with Astana for 2017 and beyond.
"It's a special day for Vincenzo and all the team. We again showed that team work can make a big difference. We were united together, right to the end and so this is a team victory," Vinokourov told Cyclingnews and other media after watching Nibali pull on the maglia rosa from inside the podium area.
ADVERTISEMENT
"We worked hard as a team to make it possible, both today and yesterday. Then Vincenzo finished it off and proved yet again that he's a ‘grande campione'. It's a great day for him, for Sicily and for Italy. It was a nerve-wracking race and perhaps especially for the Italian cycling fans. There was always a lot of intrigue but I think it's great for cycling."
Vinokourov has enjoyed success and shame in own career, winning Olympic Gold in the road race in London in 2012 but also testing positive for blood doping during the 2007 Tour de France. He has overseen a steady stream of Grand Tour success at Astana in recent years, including Nibali's success at the 2014 Tour de France. However he said this Giro d'Italia is special because of the way Nibali fought back from losing so much time.
"If someone had said a week ago that'd we'd win the Giro, I'd have struggled to believe them. We said we'd try everything but things were against us. It's a great victory," Vinokourov said.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/1TMPvvz
No comments:
Post a Comment