Abu Dhabi Tour: For Vincenzo Nibali, UAE turns out to be a place to turn the page

Osman Samiuddin details the recent travails of one of the greatest cyclists of this generation, Vincenzo Nibali, and how the Abu Dhabi Tour represents something of a turning point.

Vincenzo Nibali is a five-time stage winner at the Tour de France. Angelo Carconi / EPA

This time last year the verdict was that Vincenzo Nibali had had a tough year.

An Achilles problem towards the end of 2014 saw results flag after a fantastic season. He had a bit of a run-in with Chris Froome at the 2015 Tour de France and was then disqualified from the Vuelta a Espana. At the World Championships before coming to Abu Dhabi he finished 42nd.

This year ... well, it has had its moments but it has also had its lows. He won the Giro d’Italia for a second time, a truly remarkable win given that his team Astana had considered dropping him on the basis of poor form in the run-in.

During the race he also struggled and so poor was his form, there were suggestions he may drop out. And yet he turned it around so dramatically that his eventual triumph ranks as one of the great feats of cycling, a resurrection unseen.

By then he had already opened up a can of worms with some frank comments on teammate, fellow Italian and next big thing Fabio Aru. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport in March he said Aru was "short-tempered" and had trust issues.

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It probably did not help much when Aru was appointed captain for the Tour de France and Nibali the domestique.

Then came heartbreak, in Rio. Nibali was favourite to win gold as he sped into the final descent of a gruelling 241.5km road race. Instead, as he attempted to break out of a three-man breakaway group, he lost control in the curves and ended up hitting a drainage channel as he crashed. Greg Van Avermaet went on to win the gold medal.

A double fracture of the left collarbone was nasty and it required surgery. That put him out of contention for a number of weeks, but it likely paled in comparison to the pain of missing out on an Olympic medal.

Ahead of the second Abu Dhabi Tour, he brushed it off: in short, such is life. "It was not so difficult [to recover from it]. The falls are part of cycling and disappointments are part of life. The important thing is to look forward and that's what I do every day.

“I was stopped almost three weeks and then I gradually started to train on the road. I started doing a couple of hours until I got to full training session, of six hours and with many climbs.”

The Abu Dhabi Tour, where he finished ninth last year, will also be the end of an era for Nibali, as it will be his last race with Astana. In the new season he will lead Bahrain-Merida, a new team built around the Italian.

His departure has been rumoured for over a year but the identity of his new team was only confirmed in August. He played down suggestions of unease with the team as well as Aru.

“I spent [some] very good years in Astana Pro Team with many successes, but I wanted to have a new experience and the Bahrain-Merida project I felt was the best.

“It was not difficult to decide, and not about Aru and I also wish him a great future. Certainly I will think about it [being my last race with Astana], as I said I was very fine in the team.”

Whatever the differences, or even his form over the last couple of years, there is little doubting his status as one of the finest all-round cyclists of this generation. Certainly he is a Grand Tours legend, one of just six men to win the Tour de France, the Giro and the Vuelta.

“To win a Grand Tour race you have to be a complete rider,” he said. “The Tour, Giro and Vuelta are different races, but if you are not strong uphill, downhill and in time trial you will never win. Every victory has a different taste, but all of them have been very special.”

He has fond memories of the first Abu Dhabi Tour as well, and is not surprised that it has been granted World Tour status.

“It seemed like a very well balanced race with a finish suited to the sprinters and climbers. Then the final stage on the F1 circuit was truly spectacular. I’m not surprised [at the upgrade].

“Through the first edition I noticed the quality of the organisation already at the same level as the other international events.”

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