Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) had played down their chances for the decisive mountain stage at the Abu Dhabi Tour, citing a lack of racing and fatigue as to why they nobody should expect them to race hard.
When the eight percent gradient up to Jebel Hafeet kicked in and shook out the peloton, both riders dug deep to ensure they were in the select front group. Contador sent young teammate Jesper Hansen up the road in pursuit of eventual stage winner Tanel Kangert (Astana) and Nicolas Roche (Team Sky), and grimaced as he danced on the pedals fought to stay on the wheels. Nibali rode a similar race, hoping for a chance of success, while knowing his limits and letting Kangert enjoy his well-deserved day of success.
Contador finished fifth and Nibali was sixth both at 50 seconds down on Kangert. The two Grand Tour rivals briefly shook hands after the finish, in a sign of respect and acknowledgement that their season was virtually over, with only Sunday’s circuit stage left to race.
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“The goal was to get the best result possible and I did that,” Nibali said after downing a bottle of water in on gulp.
“This is my first mountain finish for a long time and I didn’t know how my form was. I saw that I could push pretty hard but my heart rate was up to around 190, so I knew I risked blowing up if I’d made an attack or ridden more aggressively. I decided to stay on the wheel and I definitely didn’t want to ruin Kangert’s attack because it was a good move.”
Nibali was genuinely happy that his Astana teammate had won and set up overall victory in this year’s Abu Dhabi Tour. He was also happy to end his often difficult time at the Astana team on a high.
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