Vincenzo Nibali

Nibali entered the 2019 Giro d'Italia and finished the race in second place overall, behind Richard Carapaz. On 4 June 2019, Cycling Weekly reported that Nibali had signed for Trek–Segafredo for the 2020 season.

In March 2018, Nibali won Milan-San Remo, his third cycling monument, becoming the first Italian winner of La Classicissima since Filippo Pozzato in 2006. Nibali had attacked on the Poggio di San Remo, and managed to hold off the sprinters in the closing kilometers to seal victory. Two weeks later, he finished 24th in his maiden Tour of Flanders, which included an attack on the Kruisberg that sparked the winning move of Niki Terpstra. Nibali withdrew from the 2018 Tour de France after stage 12, having suffered a crash on the ascent of the Alpe d'Huez after spectator interference. Although injured with a fractured vertebra, he managed to finish the stage in seventh place, 13 seconds behind stage winner and yellow jersey holder Geraint Thomas.

After four seasons with Astana, Nibali announced in August 2016 that he would join the newly formed Bahrain–Merida team in 2017. After two podiums at Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España, in October he won his second Il Lombardia, by attacking again Thibaut Pinot on the descent of the Civiglio and arriving solo in Como. He finished his season by taking victory in the Taiwan KOM Challenge, setting a new course record in the process.

In 2015 Nibali made the defense of his 2014 Tour de France title his priority. His first notable result was 16th in the overall classification of Tirreno–Adriatico. He then participated to the Amstel Gold Race and escaped thanks to a late attack, but was reabsorbed by the peloton and finished 65th. In the La Flèche Wallonne, he tried an attack on the penultimate climb, but it failed and he finished 20th, only 19 seconds off the pace. His first significant result of the year was placing tenth in the Tour de Romandie.

Nibali is most well known for his Grand Tours performances, but he has proven to be a strong contender in classic cycle races as well, having won the 2014 and 2015 Italian National Championships, the GP Ouest–France in 2006 and three 'Monuments' of road bicycle racing: the Giro di Lombardia in 2015 and 2017 and Milan–San Remo in 2018. He has also achieved podiums in Liège–Bastogne–Liège and previous editions of the Milan–San Remo.

Nibali moved to Lugano in the spring of 2012 with his girlfriend Rachele Perinelli (born 1985). The couple got married in October 2012 and have a daughter, Emma Vittoria (born 28 February 2014).

Nibali has a younger brother, Antonio, who is also a racing cyclist, having turned professional in 2014 to ride for the Marchiol–Emisfero team in Italy. Antonio joined his older brother at Bahrain–Merida from 2017 to 2019, and at Trek–Segafredo from 2020 onwards.

On Liège–Bastogne–Liège, he broke away solo when he attacked on the descent of the Cote de la Roche aux Faucons and dropped his main challengers with 20 kilometers to go, but he was passed by Maxim Iglinsky (Astana) in sight of the final kilometer (flamme rouge). He held on to finish in second place.

Nibali left Liquigas–Cannondale at the end of the 2012 season, and joined Astana on a two-year contract from the 2013 season onwards. The deal has been reported to be a three million Euros a year contract.

Nibali started his 2013 season in good form finishing 7th in the Tour of Oman and winning the Tirreno–Adriatico. In the latter race, he took the leader's jersey off Froome's shoulders in stage 6, where he escaped with Peter Sagan and Joaquim Rodríguez on a short climb with a gradient of 30%. He held off Froome in the final time trial. In April, he won the Giro del Trentino on the final stage featuring a mountaintop finish. He took the lead from Maxime Bouet, who had been the overall leader since the second stage. Nibali powered away on the last Hors Category climb, distancing rivals Mauro Santambrogio and Wiggins, who suffered a mechanical issue, and winning the stage in solo fashion.

At the Vuelta Nibali was vexed as to whether he should chase the red jersey to record his second grand tour in 2013 or reserve his energy for the World Championships to be held just weeks later in his adopted Tuscany. He captured the race lead on stage 4 though losing it on stage 8, he managed to regain it on stage 11, a time trial. He rode well throughout wearing the red jersey for several stages maintaining his race lead through much of the race. Nibali has now worn the leader's jersey more than any other Italian in the history of the Vuelta. He lost his race lead though on stage 19 to Chris Horner. He attacked Horner many times during the final mountain stage on the steep Angliru but he cracked in the end finishing 4th on that stage. He finished 2nd overall in the general classification.

After winning the Giro in 2013, the Tour de France became the main objective for Nibali's 2014 season. Throughout much of his season before the Tour, Nibali showed quiet form before the Tour with no race victories and high finishes. He was also criticized by the Italian press after a disappointing Critérium du Dauphiné. On 28 June Nibali became the 2014 Italian Champion with his first win of the year at the national road race championships, based on the route of the Trofeo Melinda.

Preparing for the Giro d'Italia, one of the two main targets of the season, he raced the Italian one-day race Strade Bianche, the stage race Tirreno–Adriatico, where he finished in 6th position overall – conditioned by the cancellation of the queen stage – and Milan–San Remo where he tried an attack on the descent from the Poggio but was caught by the peloton.

He returned to racing in April at the Giro del Trentino, where he demonstrated a bad condition and finished far from the winner Mikel Landa. The last race before the Giro was Liège–Bastogne–Liège, the most important of the Ardennes classics, concluded more than two minutes behind the winner after being distanced on the Côte de Saint Nicolas.

Nibali entered the Giro d'Italia as the pre-race favourite. On Stage 14, the queen stage of the race, featuring six categorised climbs before the descent to Corvara. Nibali lit up the fight for the GC on the final climb to Valparola, attacking with 27 kilometres (17 miles) to go. His attack distanced the Movistar Team's Andrey Amador and Alejandro Valverde, who both lost three minutes on the stage. However, Steven Kruijswijk (LottoNL–Jumbo) attacked close to the summit, with Esteban Chaves (Orica–GreenEDGE), and the pair dropped Nibali, who lost more than half a minute after the stage. Chaves took the stage honours after outsprinting Kruijswijk, who took the maglia rosa. Stage 15 was the third individual time trial of the race, featuring the ascent to Alpe di Siusi. Kruijswijk extended his lead to more than two minutes over second-placed Chaves as Nibali suffered a mechanical on the climb, losing more than two minutes in the process.

Nibali began the 2012 campaign with second overall in the Tour of Oman, one second behind Peter Velits, winning the queen stage. Nibali finished first overall in the Tirreno–Adriatico after winning stage five. He also won the points classification. In March, Nibali finished third in Milan–Sanremo, his first podium finish in a monument.

Nibali began 2011 with solid form, taking 5th overall in Tirreno–Adriatico. He also enjoyed a solid classics season, recording 8th place in Milan–Sanremo and 8th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège. Nibali was one of the favourites for the Giro d'Italia, with Ivan Basso not riding, giving him sole leadership of Liquigas. Though he entered the race as a big favorite, he could not match Alberto Contador throughout much of the mountains. He still managed to stay in the top three throughout much of the race. He finished third overall behind Alberto Contador and Michele Scarponi, with Nibali and Scarponi fighting over second in the final week when it became apparent the gap to Contador was too large (Contador was later stripped of the title, moving Nibali up to second).

Nibali began 2010 in great form by finishing first overall in the Tour de San Luis. He was a last minute addition to Liquigas' Giro d'Italia squad following Franco Pellizotti's last minute withdrawal over Blood Passport irregularities. Nibali wore the Maglia Rosa after his Liquigas–Doimo team won the stage four team time trial, later won the 14th stage and after some good climbing through the rest of the race, he managed to finish on the podium finishing third behind his teammate Ivan Basso and David Arroyo. In June, Nibali won the Tour of Slovenia. Later in the season, Nibali won the Trofeo Melinda. Nibali won the Vuelta a España without winning a stage, thanks to consistent high placings on summit stage finishes and the race's two time trials. He had inherited the race lead after Igor Antón was forced to abandon after crashing on stage 14. Though he lost it to Joaquim Rodríguez, he later regained it on the final time trial. This marked his first grand tour victory.

2009 saw Nibali record a win in the Giro dell'Appennino where he attacked almost 50 km (31.1 mi) from the finish to win solo. Another victory in 2009 was the Gran Premio Città di Camaiore. He finished sixth overall in the Tour of California and ninth overall in Tour of the Basque Country, before sharing leadership of Liquigas at the Tour de France with Roman Kreuziger. Nibali proved the stronger of the two and finished in seventh place overall, then his best placing in a grand tour.

Born near the Strait of Messina, his nickname is the "Shark of the Strait", "the Shark of Messina" or simply "The Shark". His first major win came at the 2006 GP Ouest-France, a UCI ProTour event. However, experts such as Michele Bartoli have said Nibali is most suited to competing in multi-stage races. He is a highly capable descender and bike handler, very good climber and good time trialist. Nibali is an all-rounder, and is considered one of the strongest stage race riders of his era. His biggest wins are the 2010 Vuelta a España, the 2014 Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia twice (2013 and 2016), making him one of seven cyclists who have won the three Grand Tours in their career. He has also won the 2012 and 2013 editions of the Tirreno–Adriatico stage race.

Nibali finished third at the UCI World Junior Time Trial Championships in 2002 and also third at the UCI World Under-23 Time Trial Championships in 2004. He turned professional in 2005 with Fassa Bortolo. In 2006, Nibali signed with Liquigas. In that year, he won the French classic GP Ouest–France at 21 years of age. He also finished in second position overall of the 2.1 rated Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali, taking the win on the first stage. In 2007, Nibali rode the Giro d'Italia for the first time and finished 19th overall. 2008 saw Nibali finish 10th in Liège–Bastogne–Liège, obtaining also an 11th-place finish in the Giro d'Italia and a 20th-place finish in the Tour de France.

Vincenzo Nibali (Italian pronunciation: [vinˈtʃɛntso ˈniːbali] ; born 14 November 1984) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Trek–Segafredo.

Vincenzo Nibali was born on 14 November 1984 in Messina, Sicily, the son of Salvatore and Giovanna. In order to become a cyclist, he left his hometown Messina and moved to Tuscany at the age of sixteen. For ten months of the year, he lived in the house of his ex-directeur sportif, Carlo Franceschi, in Mastromarco, near Lamporecchio.

He entered the Tour de France, but lost two and a half minutes to Chris Froome in the first week. He lost a further 4:25 on the first mountain stage to La Pierre-Saint-Martin after he was dropped early in the stage; and was ninth overall after the three Pyrenean stages, trailing Froome by almost eight minutes. As his hopes of a title defense had faded, he attacked in the Alpine stages and won the 19th stage from Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to La Toussuire-Les Sybelles, after a 62-kilometre solo. At the end of the stage Nibali was accused by Froome of unsportsmanlike behavior for attacking whilst Froome's bicycle had a brief mechanical problem 58 km from the finish. It is not known whether Nibali was aware of the problem, since there was no communication from Radio Tour about the incident (as later stated by Astana manager Alexandre Vinokourov). Television replays showed "Nibali twice glancing over his shoulder before accelerating away." He finished the Tour de France in 4th place overall in the general classification, 8 minutes and 36 seconds down on the winner, Chris Froome.