Vincenzo Nibali says he wants to ride Paris-Roubaix before he retires, the French one-day being the only Monument that the Italian rider has yet to race.
“When I was a kid I was fascinated by the cobblestones. It’s fascinating to watch, especially in the bad weather conditions,” he said.
“It is the only one [of the monumets] I have yet to do. Although it is not very suitable for me, and I never rode it before because it did not arrive at the right time on my calendar. But yes, I’d like to try.”
Nibali rode brilliantly over the same cobblestones during the 2014 Tour de France in one of the most brutal days of the race. The Italian rivaled the best, finishing third behind Lars Boom on stage five, despite heavy winds and rain which made the cobbles even more treacherous.
The Trek-Segafredo rider says that it is too early to talk about what races he will focus on this season knowing that a second wave of COVID-19 in Europe could definitively erase certain events from the 2020 calendar.
“It’s not the time to train at full speed. We’re keeping ourselves active for the return and hoping we can start again,” he said.
“I miss the challenge. Every now and then we do some simulation – a race, a full climb,” he added. “The other day I challenged Diego Ulissi on a hard climb, over 15 per cent. Neither of us wanted to stay behind – when we got to the top, we were blue.”
