Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) remains in contention as the Vuelta a España resumes after its first rest day, but the Italian has acknowledged that race leader Chris Froome (Sky) has appeared unbeatable to this point.
Froome moved into the red jersey when Nibali won stage 3 in Andorra, and has steadily increased his overall lead since. On Sunday, Froome won on the summit finish atop Cumbres del Sol to cement his lead still further, while Nibali is now 4th overall, 1:17 down.
“At this moment, you can’t beat him. On all of the summit finishes so far, he’s shown himself to be the strongest, the most powerful, the most explosive. It’s disarming,” Nibali told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Up to now…”
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Froome and Sky’s dominance has not been the only defining characteristic of the Vuelta to date. The soaring speeds in the front group, particularly on the final climbs, has not gone unnoticed within the peloton. Nibali said that the data from his power-meter demonstrated just how tough this Vuelta has been.
“We’re going very strongly and in the bunch, nobody is talking about anything else,” Nibali said. “Besides, the computers don’t lie. We’re flying.”
Nibali began the Vuelta on the back foot following Bahrain-Merida’s lowkey showing in the opening team time trial in Nîmes, and he admitted that he has struggled on the short, explosive climbs that have littered the Vuelta route to date. Even Nibali’s canny victory in Andorra came after he had been distanced by Froome on the Alto de la Cornella.
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