Speaking at the Bahrain-Merida team presentation in Hvar, Croatia, on Wednesday afternoon, Nibali outlined his plans, noting a third Giro d’Italia victory would be his principal objective of the coming season.
European debut in 2019
Bahrain-Merida confirmed that Nibali would make his season debut at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on February 6. He will then ride the new UAE Tour (Feb 25-March 2) that is part of the WorldTour and Tirreno-Adriatico (March 13-19). He will defend his Milan-San Remo title on Saturday March 23. The Grand Tour training will begin in early April at altitude with Nibali riding the Tour of the Alps (April 22-26) and liege-Bastogne-Liege before the Giro d’Italia. He is unlikely to race any other stage races between the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France.
“It will depend on my condition and how I come out of the Giro. The Giro uses up a lot of strength. I have tried to do two Grand Tours in recent years and it’s difficult, especially when you do the Giro and Tour together,” said Nibali.
Team Sky have yet to announce their leader for the Giro Italia, though the team nonetheless dominated headlines on Wednesday following the announcement that Sky would cease its backing of the squad at the end of the 2019 season.
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Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
