With Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde, two of the greats of the peloton say goodbye.
The Italian Nibali is one of the few riders in history to triumph in the three major national tours Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana. “The Shark of Messina”, as the Sicilian is called, won the last monument of the year in 2015 and 2017.
After 21 years as a professional, Valverde, who became world champion in Innsbruck in 2018, celebrated 133 professional victories and also won the Vuelta in 2009, says goodbye to one of his favorite races. But the man from Murcia also made a name for himself with his doping ban – he was one of the clients of the notorious doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
Former world champion Peter Sagan and Tour of Flanders winner Mathieu van der Poel, on the other hand, are on the wrong track. They start at the very first UCI Gravel World Championships on Sunday. In the Veneto in Italy, it’s 194.1 kilometers over mostly unpaved gravel roads.
Source: Nachrichten
