Vincenzo Nibali has said that the hope of riding the Giro d’Italia outweighs the pain as he continues to prepare for the race despite fracturing his wrist in a training crash two weeks ago.
The Italian is currently training at altitude near Livigno on the Italian-Swiss Alpine border and he will make a final decision on his participation in the Giro after undergoing an assessment and x-ray early next week.
Nibali fractured the radius in his right wrist after crashing in training near his home in Lugano just over two weeks ago. He underwent surgery two days later, with a small plate and screws fitted to hold the fracture together. He was cleared to resume training on the road a little over a week ago, with a special carbon fibre brace helping to reduce the pain.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Nibali is staying with his family at 2210 metres above sea level on the Passo d’Eira near Livigno, where he was joined last Sunday by Trek-Segafredo teammate Gianluca Brambilla.
Snow in the area means that many climbs in the area are impassable, and so Nibali has been limited largely to training on the Foscagno and Bernina passes, using a handlebar tape that reportedly absorbs some 92% of road vibrations.
“The pain is there, but the determination to go ahead, the thought of the Giro is stronger than anything else,” Nibali said in a video posted on Instagram.
“For the yes or no for the Giro, I’ll find out at the end of this small training camp that I’ve done alone with my family. I’ll have a check-up and an x-ray, and then I’ll evaluate with the doctors whether it’s right to go ahead with a race as important as the Giro or whether I should put it off. I hope not, so fingers crossed. We’ll give it everything.”
As well as training on the road, Nibali has been continuing his rehabilitation off the bike this past week.
According to La Gazzetta, Nibali begins each day with a cryotherapy and pressure therapy on his injury via a machine that applies ice and air pressure to his wrist. At night, meanwhile, Nibali undergoes magnet therapy in a bid to accelerate the bony callus formation in his wrist.
Nibali is hoping to form part of a triumvirate of leaders for Trek-Segafredo at the Giro alongside Bauke Mollema and Giulio Ciccone.
The two-time Giro winner missed the Tour of the Alps as a result of his injury and hasn’t pinned on a number since Milan-San Remo, meaning that he will have gone seven weeks without racing come the Grande Partenza in Turin on May 8.
