Nibali to Roglic: 'Basta! No more!' on first Giro d'Italia summit finish
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) continued his psychological and physical battle with Primoz Roglic on the first mountain finish of the Giro d'Italia, calling the Slovenian's bluff when other riders attacked and again criticizing the Jumbo-Visma rider for failing to help set the pace and lead the chase on the ascent of the Col del Nivolet.
Nibali sat on Roglic's wheel when other riders kicked away in the final kilometres, with the two locked in a standoff as Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin) powered to victory and moved up to third overall, now only 31 seconds behind Roglic. Nibali is fifth overall, 4:09 down on race leader Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) and still 1:44 down on Roglic.
"He let the gap go to Carapaz and Majka and wanted me to close it and I said: 'Basta! No more!' I told him that if he wants to win the Giro he had to ride," Nibali explained a few minutes after reaching the spectacular finish in the shadow of the Lago Serru dam, surrounded by the snow-covered peaks.
"Roglic is well placed overall but if he continues to ride like that he won't win this Giro. I won't win it too but neither will he."
Tired of the Sphinx
Nibali clearly has had enough of Roglic playing the Sphinx, sitting in the wheels and refusing to take control of the race, despite being the virtual race leader on the road to Verona. Nibali revealed that Roglic never speaks to him but follows him throughout the race.
"I said to him: 'If you also want to come and do a photo at my house, I'll show you my collection of trophies whenever you want…" Nibali said with a strong dose of sarcasm mixed with anger.
Changes in the general classification
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