Vincenzo Nibali was absent when the members of the new Bahrain-Merida team stood up and introduced themselves to one another in Croatia on Monday. After the Abu Dhabi Tour, the Italian had flown to Milan for the presentation of the route for the 100th Giro d’Italia on Tuesday, and only arrived at his new team’s introductory camp under the cover of darkness after a lengthy drive across northern Italy and down through Slovenia.
Despite his tardiness, Nibali’s status as the figurehead of this new team, put together with the backing of the Bahrain royal family, was abundantly clear. Even the more experienced riders spoke about him with a tone of reverence, while some of the youngsters and neo-pros could scarcely believe they’ll be sharing a jersey with him.
It very much feels like Nibali’s team. It was his visit to Bahrain and casual bike ride with Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa over two years ago that set the wheels of this project in motion, and the familiar faces he has brought with him include his agent Alex Carera, coach Paolo Slogno, brother Antonio, and a number of others from Astana, including Valerio Agnoli, a directeur sportif press officer and a press officer.
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“I’m really proud of where we are now,” Nibali tells Cyclingnews, before ordering Agnoli to fetch a couple of espressos. “To think about two years ago seems like a strange story.”
After that first encounter ahead of the 2014 Dubai Tour, Nibali met the Prince again in January 2015 and offered him a yellow jersey from his Tour de France victory the previous July. It was there that the idea of building a team around him was first floated.
“It was like a puzzle,” he says. “Every little piece began to fall into place.”
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