Gazzetta Awards: Vincenzo Nibali, pride of Sicily and cycling

Giro d’Italia 2010. Vincenzo Nibali in Castellania, the city of Fausto Coppi, wears the pink jersey and receives the hug of Costanza and Michela Girardengo, heirs of the first Champion. Father Salvatore looks at him with shining eyes and reveals a background: “When he learned that he was going to race the Giro, Enzo took his new Vespa and, with his cousin Cosimo, drove a hundred kilometers and went to the sanctuary of the Madonna di Tindari. . He prayed and went home lightly. ”
That boy from Messina is 25 years old and runs for Ivan Basso’s Liquigas, the most important Italian team: he wins the stage of Asolo and will be third on the final podium in Verona (with Basso in pink), The Giro becomes the path of initiation to glory sporty. Vincenzo Nibali will become the most successful Italian rider since Gimondi: two Tours of Italy (2013 and 2016), the 2014 Tour de France, the 2010 Vuelta, plus Milan-Sanremo 2018 and two Tours of Lombardy (2015 and 2017). He triumphs in the pink jersey under the snow of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and overturns another Giro between Risoul and Sant’Anna di Vinadio with the decisive help of Scarponi. He plays the hymn of Mameli on the Champs-Elysees in Paris at the Tour, paints a masterpiece in Sanremo, dominates two Lombardia, and in that 2010 opened on the Sanctuary of Tindari conquers the Vuelta.

tiptoed

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Nibali has always had the bike in destiny. He goes on the tricycle before he even walked, he pushed it forward with his toes. At 9 years old, his father gives him his first racing bike and Vincenzo gives battle to everyone. He has a lot of fun and immediately becomes the champion to beat. As a pupil and juniors then the journeys to Calabria, Puglia and Campania begin, the nights in the car, the ferry, the sacrifice of the family. He follows the races behind his father’s Vespa and takes pictures of the riders. Until the decision to move to Tuscany to Mastromarco, at the home of Carlo and Bruna Franceschi, who manage the junior team. He lives with them in the attic, he is also taken by loneliness when he watches the sunset from his window, but these are unique and decisive years for his formation, so much so that even now Nibali has a house in Mastromarco. Where his fame even precedes him. Because three years after him Damiano Caruso arrives here, another Sicilian, this time from Ragusa: “There was a story about this Nibali, even though he was strong. He came to visit us in retreat and we all played table football together: Vincenzo didn’t want to lose even here “.

the shark

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Lo Squalo has now become a world cycling brand. Professional from 2005 to 2022, first race the Laigueglia Trophy and last the Giro di Lombardia, Nibali closed with 54 successes: the first in the Faenza stage at the Coppi & Bartali Week 2006, on a day of pouring rain; the last one in his Sicily, in Mascali in 2021, when on the podium he wears the red jersey of leader of the Sicilian stage race organized by RCS Sport. The announcement of the retirement arrives in Messina at the Giro 2022. The circle is closed. The island and its champion, our champion. “The time had come and it’s time to give back time to family and friends. I have to be grateful to the teams around me, because they helped me when things didn’t go well. And to the cheering, which gives you the strength to resist and do something special. And of course, to the family, which supports and endured me “, says Vincenzo. Estimated and greatly appreciated even by rivals, never a word out of place or a gesture not in keeping with his status. For the competitive farewell he receives the tribute of Prudhomme, director of the Tour de France, to the Tre Valli Varesine, to Lombardia from the director of the Giro, Mauro Vegni, and from the two presidents of international cycling: David Lappartient (Uci) and Enrico Della Casa (Uec). Because Nibali is Nibali, one like this will no longer be there. And from today cycling turns out to be poor.