Nibali pure emotion: it was Italy. Even as ex we need him

Goodbyes, as we know, drag regrets and melancholy with them. This was the case for example with Federer, who was crying like a baby at the end of his last game. This is not the case for Nibali. Federer retired because he couldn’t play anymore, his physique couldn’t take it anymore. Nibali has never been so lively and cheerful. At 37 he is still here to fight and today, on the day of his retirement, he leaves not to be one of the many, but to win. Lombardy is the race that he probably loved the most, a classic that saw him triumph as a ruler.

It is not up to me to remember his victories, I would like to say his exploits, but at least to line up the Tour, the two Giri d’Italia and the Vuelta, an undertaking that has only been successful for the great champions. Nibali has never had a disagreement, a quarrel, everyone has always been happy and happy to know him and to work with him, or against him, because those who appreciated him most were his opponents.

I loved Nibali very much, in all the years that I have been the national team coach I have never forgotten his name. And if Nibali has no regrets, I have a very strong one. Just thinking about it brings me so much sadness. Vincenzo was not Olympic champion for a banal and cursed fall. It was 2016, we were in Rio and that crash 11 km from the end made our dreams of glory vanish. One of the most intense days of my life. We were there, playing for an Olympic gold medal and only bad luck took away a sure medal from Vincenzo.

Even a World Cup could win, Vincenzo. Not with me, but with coach Paolo Bettini in Florence in 2013. Even there a bad crash probably took away that pinch of energy that could be useful to break everyone off on the last lap, and he had to settle for fourth place. When I was coach of the national team, I never had a Nibali formed-Sanremo: in 2014 he was still stunned by the victory of the Tour and in 2018 another fall, but at the Tour de France on Alpe d’Huez, he did not allow him to be at the top in Innsbruck, the perfect route for him.

But if I close my eyes and think of Vincenzo, the first image that comes to mind is that shot on the Poggio. Nobody expected such a strong Nibali at Milano Sanremo, but that day the good Vincenzo surpassed himself by giving us 10 ‘of great cycling. Pure emotion. I can only thank him, Vincenzo. Do you think that he obtained his first victory in my Faenza in the Coppi & Bartali 2006 stage, 50 meters from my house … a great champion.

It has given me a lot, especially the certainty that cycling is a great school and a great blend of soul and heart. In the last 15 years, Nibali has been one of the protagonists of world cycling, certainly the strongest Italian, the one who has kept our movement on its feet. But now we have a problem, we still don’t know who will be able to take his place: this is not Vincenzo’s problem, but ours, of Italian cycling.

Thanks Vincenzo. I hope you have at least as much happiness as you gave me and all your fans. Please don’t disappear because even as ex we need men like you