No regrets for Nibali after failing to topple Carapaz and Movistar at Giro d'Italia
Vincenzo Nibali refused to be disappointed with his performance at the Giro d'Italia after trying to the very end of the final mountain stage to crack race leader Richard Carapaz and his protective Movistar team.
Nibali seemed to suffer on the mid-stage Passo Manghen and so was unable to make a long-range attack and repeat the 2018 exploit of Chris Froome. But he fought on and managed to distance Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) on the final climb to Croce d'Aune-Monte Avena, gaining 50 seconds on the Slovenian to safeguard his second place overall.
With just Sunday's 17km time trial around Verona left to race, Nibali is 1:54 behind Carapaz in the general classification, with Roglic now at 3:16. Mikel Landa (Movistar) moved into third at 2:53 but has historically done poorly in time trials. Nibali should be able to hold off Landa and Roglic to finish on the second step of the final podium.
"I tried to the very end but it was difficult to do much with Carapaz and Landa so strong. The Movistar team was strong too, they had four riders on the front in the finale and there's not much you can do when a team is so strong," Nibali admitted.
"The last climb was hard and came after a long, hard day out and a hard Giro, so one attack could have made a big difference. I tried something but Carapaz responded and so deserved to keep the maglia rosa."
"Now we'll see what happens in the final time trial. The 17km are tough but I think everyone will feel the efforts of today. The time trial is the last day of fighting. I was hoping to win the Giro but that won't happen now, Carapaz has it 90 per cent won."
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