Vincenzo Nibali to lead Bahrain Merida at Vuelta a España, wearing number one
Aug 21 2018 05:40 am CET
Photo of Vincenzo Nibali by Jonathan Roorda / CyclingPub.com
Bahrain Merida will be led by Vincenzo Nibali at the Vuelta a España. The Italian rider is set to return racing after his incident at the Tour de France.
The rider had to withdraw from the French grand tour after the seventh stage, where he fell after he got tangled with a leash from the public. He was diagnosed with a vertebra fracture and could recover in time for the Spanish race.
"I have been training for about only a couple of weeks and for this reason, I think it will be very difficult to aim for the general classification," Nibali commented. "I will see day by day and I hope to be able to do well in some mountain stages anyway."
The organisation of the Vuelta announced that Nibali will wear the bib number 1. "It’s a mark of gratitude to his record book that includes the three Grand Tours (La Vuelta 2010, Giro d’Italia 2013 and 2016, Tour de France 2014) but also Il Lombardia (2015 and 2017) and Milan-Sanremo (2018)," said the organisation of the race.
The roster selected to support Nibali is strong and can also fight for stage victories. "We have a very strong team with men who can do well on both the GC and the stage win," said Sports Director Gorazd Stangelj. "There are experienced athletes like Franco Pellizotti and young debuters like Mark Padun and Hermann Pernsteiner.
"Our GC rider will be Ion Izagirre, with Vincenzo Nibali who can certainly make a good Vuelta. As usual, it will be a very special race, different from Giro d'Italia and Tour de France and with already a lot of climbs starting from the second stage."
Bahrain Merida's complete roster for the Vuelta a España (25th of August-16th of September):
Vincenzo Nibali
Franco Pellizotti
Ion Izagirre
Gorka Izagirre
Ivan Garcia Cortina
Luka Pibernik
Hermann Pernsteiner
Mark Padun
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