Vincenzo Nibali positively monsters the cronoscalata

There’s a headline you wouldn’t get on most websites.

If you want a clear picture, get yourself a cronoscalata. What did today’s cronoscalata reveal? It revealed Vincenzo Nibali, then a big gap and then everyone else.

On a normal stage, two riders can finish simultaneously but in radically different states. One can be cycling within themselves and the other can be on the verge of coughing up lung butter. Their faces will betray nothing of this.

In contrast, an uphill time trial has no time for posturing. You complete the course as quickly as you can and that’s that. There’s no drafting, no teamwork, no saving yourself for tomorrow. The cronoscalata deals only in bold, easy-to-interpret facts.

Today, Cadel Evans, in second place overall, finished 2m36s down on Vincenzo Nibali. In a three-week race, that’s plenty. In a 45-minute time trial? Well, even Evans himself described it as ‘abysmal’.

In related news, Domenico Pozzovivo lost 2m11s. He doesn’t like time trials.


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