Is Vincenzo Nibali the change Team Astana needs?
Vincenzo Nibali of Team Liquigas-Cannondale has signed a new deal with Team Astana for the coming season.
The Italian has agreed to assist the team for the coming two years after finishing its associations with Team Liquigas-Cannondale.
The cyclist marked his professional debut with Team Fassa Bortolo in 2005 and joined the Italian side, Team Liquigas after spending one-year with his first team.
He helped the team with numerous top performances in the past season and his exclusion will definitely hurt the General Manager Roberto Amadio.
The 27-year-old secured an overall victory at the Tirreno-Adriatico 2012 and also managed to bag the fifth stage and the point’s classifications at the race.
He occupied the second overall spot at the Tour of Oman and wins the fifth stage at the race along with a second place finish at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege 2012.
Vincenzo finished third at the Milan-San Remo and occupied the third overall spot at the most prestigious cycling race of the season, the Tour de France 2012.
Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky Procycling claimed the top overall position and became the first British cyclist to walk home with an overall victory at the race.
His team-mate, Christopher Froome finished at the second position and Vincenzo had to settle for the third spot despite his endless efforts during the three-week race.
Vincenzo seemed to be the only competitor for Wiggins and Froome throughout the race and things get also gathered some heat during the race.
"If he wants to be a great champion he has to have a little bit of respect for his rivals, because sometimes, to look at someone like that in the face is offensive," Nibali said of Wiggins after the stage 10 of the Tour
"I'm talking about respect amongst the cyclists. Riders have never kicked or punched each other as they do in football”.
“There's always just been a lot of respect for rivals. So, for me, there's this respect. To turn and look a rival in the face, as he did, that's not very great in my opinion," he concluded.
His recent performances in the past season include a third and a second overall finish at the Giro d’Italia 2010 and 2011 respectively.
The cyclist claimed the first overall position at the Vuelta a Espana 2010 and occupied the seventh overall position during the 2011 version of the race.
It is believed that Vincenzo’s arrival in Team Astana will also result in the exit of Roman Kreuziger who has shown interest in signing with Team Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank.
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