PARIS, – Thirteen years ago, Vincenzo Nibali packed his bags and left his home in Sicily to start the journey that led him to a triumphant ride on the Champs Elysees yesterday as Tour de France champion.
The 29-year-old Italian, as soft-spoken in life as aggressive as he is on the bike, joined Eddy Merckx, Jacques Anquetil, Bernard Hinault, Alberto Contador and his compatriot Felice Gimondi as winners of all three grands tours.
The son of Giovanna and Salvatore, who own a movie rental shop, Nibali quickly realised riding his bike around the local streets would not be enough to emulate Gimondi.
“With my father, we would watch videos of Merckx, Gimondi, Sarroni, Moser,” the humble Nibali said.
“But I can also talk about Hinault, Bobet. I know their story.”
In a region where family ties are like glue, leaving home could have been a heart-breaking move, but Nibali learned to love his independence.
He moved from Messina to Tuscany to ride at junior level under the guidance of sports director Carlo Franceschi in the Mastromarco team.
Nibali, who lived at Franceschi’s home, quickly impressed, taking third place in the junior time trial world championships in 2002 and third again in the Under-23 world championships.
But just like Contador, he is not one to be content with second or third. The chisel-featured Nibali is an attacker and he long paid a heavy price for it.
In the 2011 Tour of Lombardy, one of the most prestigious one-day races, he attacked in the descent of the Madonna del Ghisallo, some 50 kilometres from the finish.
He was caught, but the move was as bold as it was brilliant. In 2012, he was the only rider to attack a dominant Team Sky in the mountains.
He never managed to break the British outfit’s stranglehold on the race, but that is how Nibali rides.
On this year’s Tour, he took the yellow jersey in the second stage after a late attack caught his rivals cold in Sheffield. This time, he was not caught.
Instead of playing it conservatively, Nibali was on the attack on all terrains, distancing Contador in the pouring rain on the treacherous cobbled stage to Arenberg as Britain’s defending champion Chris Froome crashed out.
After Contador was also forced out following a crash in a descent on stage 10, the Astana rider’s lead was not to be threatened, yet the ‘Shark of Messina’ attacked again in the mountains, taking his fourth stage win at the top of Hautacam, a mystic pass draped in eerie fog.
