In-form Australian Richie Porte may face a huge new threat at next month’s Giro d’Italia in the form of Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali.
Italian Nibali, the 2013 Giro winner, is reportedly being urged to ride the Giro in case his scandal-hit team Astana have their licence revoked before he can attempt his main goal for 2015, defending his Tour de France crown in July.
Nibali’s compatriot and Astana teammate Fabio Aru was due to ride the Giro as team leader but had to pull out of this week’s Giro de Trentino due to a stomach virus and is now a doubt.
Porte is among the early favourites for the year’s first grand tour in Italy, where he will lead the powerful Team Sky.
He showed his form in taking control of the Giro del Trentino on Wednesday after a solo victory on the second stage, backing up his impressive overall victories at Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya stage races.
Earlier in the day a report in Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport quoted Nibali as saying he may ride the Giro, particularly with the ongoing uncertainty about Astana’s World Tour licence over several doping cases and the possibility it could be revoked.
Gazzetta speculate that Nibali, 30, might opt to ride the Giro as a safety net, in case the licence is withdrawn between May’s Giro and July’s Tour.
“It’s true. Martino (Astana manager Giuseppe Martinelli) is pushing for me to ride the Giro too. But at the moment it’s not in my plans,” said Nibali.
With former Tour de France champion Alberto Contador already deciding to go for a Giro-Tour double, the prospect of Nibali doing likewise would certainly excite Giro organisers.
A half-fit Aru would likely be no match for Porte or Contador but a Nibali firing on all cylinders would.
George
Guest
Whereas of course all the other teams are pure as the driven snow, including those with unrepentant former dopers still on the roster stronger than ever winning the big races and repentant dopers in management positions
Scott Pryde
Expert
It was a realistic possibility.... UCI are sick of Astana... And why wouldn't you be!
damo
Guest
The UCI taking away the licence of the team which contains the defending TdF champ ?! Sorry if I laughed out loud, but this is an organisation that has a dictionary at HQ that doesn't have the word 'integrity' included. Degrading the spectacle of their pinnacle event to placate the wowsers- not going to happen.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Interesting but I doubt Nibali will do the Giro. Still Porte vs Contador promises to be fascinating.
Rob Gremio
Roar Pro
Interesting, but I think I read somewhere that the UCI will not take Astana's licence off them. Here it is: http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/article/2015/04/24/astana-escapes-uci-licence-penalty So Nibali probably won't do the Giro after all. However, if he did, he would really shake that race up, especially as his form in the Ardennes Classics has been pretty good.