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July 20, 2014

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Tour leader touted as the ‘boss’

VINCENZO Nibali’s Tour de France rivals now know who the “boss” is, according to his Astana team manager Alexander Vinokourov.

Nibali won his third stage of the Tour in the Alps on Friday, first riding away from his main rivals Alejandro Valverde and Thibaut Pinot before also leaving breakaway pair Rafal Majka and Leopold Konig in his irrepressible wake.

With yesterday’s second Alpine stage looking even tougher than Friday’s, as the 177km route from Grenoble to Risoul takes in two first category climbs and the uncategorized Col d’Izoard — at 2,360m the highest point of this year’s race — Vinokourov believes Nibali has sent out a message to his rivals.

“He showed he is the boss in the Tour. They all understood and they let him do it,” said the Kazakh, who nonetheless checked his own euphoria.

“You win the Tour in Paris. It’s true we’ve taken a great step towards the final victory, we’ve got a team that’s working well, but there are still some tough days to come.”

Nibali’s management of the Tour so far, not to mention the injury withdrawals of Chris Froome and Alberto Contador, have created a feeling the rest are riding for second place.

And that at least promises to be a thrilling battle with Spanish veteran Valverde, young Frenchmen Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet, as well as American Tejay Van Garderen all in the fight.




 

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