Nibali expects an exciting battle between “the attacker” and “the defender,” but mainly hopes the new time bonus game won’t interfere with the race

The now-retired Italian is one of the select few to have won all three Grand Tours, but it was on home soil where Vincenzo Nibali truly came into his own. The Giro d’Italia brought out the best in him and just like in his racing days, Nibali expects this year’s edition to be wide open and full of traps. “There are phases of the race that can be real pitfalls,” the Shark of Messina told bici.pro. “The Giro is never easy, and that final week is brutal.”

Nibali, who spent his career under the spotlight during cycling’s most scrutinized doping era, sees a potentially intriguing dynamic playing out in this Giro. “Roglic has the experience, and that will help him a lot but he’s a defensive rider. Ayuso, on the other hand, is the opposite. So we could end up with an attacker versus a defender, and that would make the race really exciting.”

But he doesn’t think the fight for pink will stop there. “You can’t underestimate Del Toro or Yates. Tiberi has prepared for this Giro in every detail he even scouted the stages earlier this year. Ciccone is coming in with great legs, and we’ll have to see if he targets GC or stages.”

Text continues below.

New this year: the Red Bull Kilometer. While time bonuses of 3, 2, and 1 seconds during intermediate sprints have been standard in past editions, this May the Red Bull Kilometer ups the stakes to 6, 4, and 2 seconds for the GC contenders. It will take place one kilometer from the finish in every road stage except for the time trials on stages 2 and 10.

When asked if this new feature could influence the general classification, Nibali is clear. “I hope not! I’ve said before that fast guys have neutralized stages too often, and I hope we don’t see that again. That said, I don’t think these bonus seconds will mess with the GC too much.”

The 40-year-old Italian even recalls a past example when weighing in on time bonuses at both the line and mid-stage. “It would’ve been worse if they’d handed out big bonuses to the top three. I still remember Joaquim Rodríguez losing the 2012 Giro because of bonus seconds.”