By now they are used to seeing riders participate in the Vuelta with the sole aim of preparing for the world championship at the end of the season. Even in the Giro it happens that someone shows up to train from a Tour perspective. Lance Armstrong did it, for example, in the year in which he returned to racing. Only the organizers of the Tour de France had never heard someone say to them coram populo: "I'm here not for your race but to make the leg for Rio".
Only someone with the attributes of a Shark could dare so much. But now, on the eve of the Olympic test, those declarations in France, a tranchant way of snubbing the most important race on the world calendar which, by winning it in 2014, gave him global fame, put Nibali, more than other Rio favorites, in the ungrateful how stimulating obligation to have to hit gold or at least a medal. A negative result would give rise to many malicious reflections on his anonymous Tour, as if by waving the goal of the Games he had in fact created an alibi to avoid confrontation with Chris Froome, practically unbeatable in the Grande Boucle.
On Nibali's side is the pride of the champion who knows that a double false step would risk tarnishing the extraordinary triumph of the Giro. From him there is a route for top climbers and downhill skiers with start and finish in Copacabana, which is harder than the Giro di Lombardia which saw him win big last year. 237,5 km long, the route presents the toughest difficulties in the second of the two circuits in the programme, that of Vista Chinesa of 25 and a half km, to be repeated three times with an ascent of almost 9 km with the first 4 having slopes over 13%.
A downhill stretch follows before the road climbs again, albeit with more pedalable hairpin bends. Then the final dive towards Rio's famous Avenida Atlantica with a very technical descent before the last 11,5 km of flat land. There is all the repertoire that the Shark likes. Even the bookmakers give him together with Alejandro Valverde as the great favorite of this Saturday's race which presents – with the exception of Contador and Quintana, blocked by health problems – the best of grand tour cycling, that is, for complete riders: from Chris Froome (who however says he aims more at the time trial: British pre-tactical?) to Joaquim Rodriguez, from Romain Bardet to Fabio Aru, from Richie Porte to Bauke Mollema.
But also watch out for riders like Esteban Chaves, Michal Kwiatkowski, Alberto Rui Costa, Julian Alaphilippe and Steven Kruijswijck. At the start, to win the first gold medal of the Brazilian Olympics, there will be 144 runners from 60 countries. And Italy – in addition to Nibali and Aru, there are also Diego Rosa, Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Carusso under the orders of coach Davide Cassani – are among the few national teams that have five men in the running, the maximum possible. The others with a quintet are Belgium, Colombia, Great Britain and Spain. For Nibali, Rio is also the first race after the official announcement of his move in 2017 from Aru's Astana to the new Bahrain-Merida team.
