Vincenzo Nibali grabs the fifth stage of the Tirreno Adriatico 2012
Vincenzo Nibali showed his class once again at the 196 kilometre chase to Prati di Tivo and grabbed the fifth stage of the third World Tour race of the new season.
His form was evident during the fifth stage of the race as he sailed across the finish-line ahead of his competitors.
It took him a total of 5 hours, 46 minutes and 33 seconds to cross the finish-line ahead of his main rivals.
Roman Kreuziger of Team Astana finished 16 seconds behind at the second position while Christopher Horner of Team RadioShack-Nissan claimed the third spot at the race.
Vincenzo was overwhelmed with the victory and cited that the race became very difficult during the half way across.
“I knew the central part of the climb was the hardest. Horner went hard there and made a selection. When we caught him I saw that everyone else was catching their breath,” he stated.
He added, “I went for it. I felt good and so did the same effort I did to win the stage in Oman. I’ve been focused on winning Tirreno-Adriatico all week and I want to win it”.
Nibali is now holding the third overall position after the stage 5 classifications. Christopher Horner is leading with a lead of 5 seconds over Roman Kreuziger and 12 seconds over Nibali.
He noted that the 9.3 kilometre final stage of the race will decide the final order on the final general classifications.
The Italian started riding professionally with Team Fassa Bortolo in 2005 and joined Team Liquigas in 2006.
He has helped the team with a number of victories over the past years and is not yet done with his passion.
Nibali started off the 2012 season in style with an overall second place finish during the Tour of Oman 2012.
He also bagged the fifth stage of the race and is now targeting the overall victory at the Tirreno-Adriatico.
Vincenzo is now eyeing the 181 kilometre stage 6 of the race before finally trying his legs at the final time trial event on Tuesday.
Nibali is also nicknamed as ‘The Shark’ because of his ultimate skills against the clock and his big test will be during the coming two stages of the Italian race.
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