Vincenzo Nibali hoping podium spot at the Tour de France
Vincenzo Nibali is having a terrific season and is all set to continue his tremendous form at the Tour de France 2012.
He is currently holding the fourth overall position after the UCI World Tour Elite Men ranking, with a total number of 272 UCI points in his bag.
Joaquim Rodriguez of Team Katusha is leading the category with 404 points while Tom Boonen of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step and Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky secured the second and the third position with 366 and 335 points respectively.
The cyclist has filled his bag with several victories during the first half of the season including an overall victory at the Tirreno-Adriatico along with a stage 5 and point’s classifications of the race.
He finished third overall at the Tour of Oman, third at the Milan-San Remo and finished second during the Liege-Bastogne-Liege along with a stage 2 win at the Oman race.
While commenting on his current form Nibali noted, "I took ten days off after the Classics, then came back at the Tour of California".
"The Dauphiné was just another stepping-stone towards the Tour. Now I'm here I feel that the work I've done has paid off. I was in the mix last week at the Italian national championships and my legs feel good".
The Italian is aware of the fact that he is riding against the in-form Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans, which increases the level of the competition.
Mark Cavendish will help Team Sky in the sprinting department which really strengthens the British side.
"Yes, Wiggins and the Sky team we've seen so far this year are extremely strong, but not every race is the same," Vincenzo
"There are also a lot of other riders that we shouldn't discount: Gesink, Van den Broeck, and also Menchov, who people shouldn't ignore".
The 27-year-old holds as many as eight Grand Tour appearances under his belt, including four Giro d’Italia, two Tour de France and two Vuelta a Espana participations to his credit.
He missed the previous two edition of the Tour and is now marking his return with overall classifications in his mind.
Nibali will be accompanied by Ivan Basso (Ita), Federico Canuti (Ita), Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita), Kristjan Koren (Slo), Alan Marangoni (Ita) and Dominique Nerz (Ger).
Daniel Oss (Ita), Maciej Paterski (Pol), Peter Sagan (Svk), Sylvester Szmyd (Pol) and Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) will also support the Italian at the Tour d e France 2012.
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