Vincenzo Nibali keen to claim his first victory of the new season at the Tour of Oman
Vincenzo Nibali is seeking his first win of the professional season and is hopeful that the 5th stage of the Tour of Oman will finally open the 2012 winning account for the cyclist.
The Italian is currently holding the 26th overall spot after the stage 4 classifications and is 49 seconds behind the race leader Andre Greipel.
His career’s best performance was back in 2010 at the Vuelta a Espana. Nibali won the Spanish Grand Tour and also secured the combinations classifications at the race.
Nibali also claimed the first position at the Tour de San Luis, Tour of Slovenia and claimed the third overall spot at the Giro d’ Italia 2010.
The 27-year-old could not continue his winning momentum in the past season and struggled to secure the top position.
However, he finished second at the Giro d’ Italia 2011, fifth overall at the Tirreno-Adriatico and eighth at the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Milan-San Remo 2011.
While commenting on his new season plans, he told Cyclingnews, "In one way, it would be a bit of a liberation to get a win, but I know that there are bigger races coming and I need to do well there too".
He continued, "It's very important to try and do well here because when I get back to Italy, the big races like Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo won't be long in coming. I do want to get a good classification here, but at the same time I don't want to go mad chasing the win".
Nibali started his 2012 season at the UCI inaugural event, Santos Tour Down Under and finished the race with a solid 5th overall position.
Levi Leipheimer of Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step won the event with a stage 4 victory at the race.
The cyclist joined the Italian team in 2006 and is continuing his seventh consecutive season with the side.
The Spaniard is targeting the Tirreno-Adriatico to kick-off his spring campaign. He will then ride the Milan-San Remo to continue his classics season.
Nibali has also shown interest in riding the Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Ardennes Classics in the season ahead.
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