The newly crowned Tour de France 2014 champ Vincezo Nibali might have surprised everybody with a dramatic win- but the winner himself is not sure whether he could have able to nail it if Contador and Froome had avoided the falls.
Both Contador & Froome were the two best favorites at the Tour France 2014 and the latter’s win at the world’s most prestigious cycling event last year raised the bar for him further. Unfortunately, both the riders suffered tragic crashes that forced them to withdraw their names from the event. While Froome broke his wrist in the 5th stage of the Tour, Contador fractured his sheen in the tenth stage.
However, the 29-year-old Astana rider is confident that even had Froome and Contador not sustained crashes, he still would have been able to come up with a fantastic race.
The Italian rider ended winning by 7 minutes & 37 seconds and stressed that it was his steady preparation that deserves maximum credit for such a huge triumph.
“I feel that I still would have come up with a fantastic race but then again it surely have been tougher since both of them are great climbers & great leaders”, remarked the new Tour Frace champion.
“But I was quite well prepped up for the race & it echoed on mountain stages”, he continued. “I was right there at each mountain finish. I was actually feeling great”.
“Contador and Froome are big champs & I am hopeful that I would get this opportunity to battle against them in 2015”, added in the star Italia rider emphasizing that his successful journey through challenging cobblestones on 9th July is hugely responsible for the general classification triumph.
“The cobblestone level was hugely significant for my overall win.”