Tour de France podium finisher Vincenzo Nibali is returning to competition for the first time since the Olympic road race and, despite that break, is feeling ambitious heading into the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
The Italian is one of four strong Liquigas Cannondale riders for the event and is determined to perform well in a race with plenty of climbs and a concluding time trial.
“The Tour gave me great satisfaction but my season didn’t finish in Paris,” he insisted, making it clear he isn’t in Colorado just to fill a team slot. “I expect to have a big end to the season and want to achieve major new goals.
“Colorado is the right race for getting back into the swing of competitive riding. This is my first race for a while so I’m not making any predictions, but I’m certainly not here just to go for a spin: it’s a difficult parcours and I love new challenges.”
Nibali is an excellent climber and a solid time trialist, two attributes which could serve him very well in the 2.HC event. He’ll move to the Astana team at the end of the season and will want to make a good impression for what will be one of his last races in the acid green jersey.
The same applies to the US road racing champion Timmy Duggan, who confirmed Friday that he is moving to the Spidertech-C10 team. He has the motivation of riding well in the stars and stripes jersey on home soil, and will be fired up to do so in the race.
The team will also feature double Giro d’Italia winner Ivan Basso and the exciting neo-pro Moreno Moser, nephew of Franesco Moser.
Basso has already ridden the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this year, netting fifth in the first and supporting Nibali en route to his third place in the second.
Many riders in his position would be jaded, but he sounds like he’s in a good frame of mind. “I’ve got some great memories of last year’s experience, and I’m happy to be back here again,” he said. “I aim to take the race a day at a time: although I’ve recovered from the exertion of the Tour, I’m still lack a bit of racing rhythm.
“Nevertheless I’m still determined to make my mark and also support my teammates. We’ve got a competitive team and can definitely do this race justice.”
As for Moser, he’s has a stunning debut season. The 21 year old wasted no time at all to get up to speed, winning the Trofeo Laigueglia in February, taking the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt in May and netting third in the prologue of the Tour de Suisse in June.
His biggest result followed in July when he took two stages and the overall in the WorldTour Tour de Pologne. Now the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is next on his list of targets.
“The race looks tough but interesting on paper. I’m in good condition: I trained in the mountains at Passo San Pellegrino with the team after the Tour of Poland to fine-tune my legs,” he said. “I plan to be successful here as well. It’s been an incredible season so far, and I don’t intend to stop yet. I’ll try to exploit every possible opportunity I get.”
The team will be completed by Valerio Agnoli, Damiano Caruso, Ted King and Paolo Longo Borghini,
The race begins in Durango on Monday.