Milano-SanRemo 2018, Nibali: “I wasn’t supposed to race at first – What a piece of work I’ve done!”

Vincenzo Nibali succeeds in winning another Monument race together with today’s victory at Milano-SanRemo 2018. Bahrain-Merida leader won expertly with a decisive and calibrated attack broke out with just 7 kilometers remaining. Nibali seems very proud of this success and still doesn’t realise he could get such a race, so different from the one that suit him. “It’s a honour to take Eddy Merckx’s compliments because he won several times here and he’s still judging expertly nowadays performances – debuts Nibali – It was a tough day because it had been raining throughout most of the race and several times I dressed and suddently undressed myself. We raced brillantly and in the finale I did such a masterpiece“, says proudly the 2013 and 2016 Giro d’Italia winner.

Milano-Sanremo wasn’t scheduled in Nibali’s calendar at the beginning but in the end he realised it would have been a wise desision to take part to such a Monument race.I wasn’t supposed to race Milano-Sanremo until recently because I was dubious at first but I have to thank sports director Slongo because he insisted in lining up myself to this race. I realised I could win only since I opened a gap over the others on the Poggio. I’ve always dreamed to win this race but I wasn’t confident because the route doesn’t suits me and in the past I tried several times both with Liquigas and with Astana. This win is very similar to the one I achieved in Sheffiled at 2014 Tour de France though the circumstances are so different. I didn’t feel annoyed when I wasn’t considered as a favourite on the eve of Milano-SanRemo but I enjoy when there is so little pressure on myselfconfessed Nibali.

The success achieved today should improve his confidence with a view to Inssbruck World Champs but Nibali keeps the low profile: “The route of the road race World Championship is very different and the success achieved today has nothing to do with it and we’ll deal with it later on in the season. Anyway, throughout the Tirreno-Adriatico I felt better day after day and in the final time trial I didn’t take a chance in order to approach this race at my best”. In the end, Nibali is still struggling in order to realise what he has performed today: “I need some time to realise what I have done today and later on I will weigh up the prestige of this victory”, ends 2015 and 2017 Giro di Lombardia winner.

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