Vincenzo Nibali has set himself the Cape Epic as a goal: it will be his first participation, so he will gather experience to, you never know, win it in the future. His teammate is Ivan Santaromita, with whom he made his debut a few days ago at the Andalucia Bike Race, race won by the Wilier Pirelli duo Fabian Rabensteiner and Wout Allemann. But in the opening stage, a crash by Ivan Santaromita prevented the pair from closing the race in a positive way.
Santaromita sustained a severe contusion to one hand and withdrew immediately, leaving Vincenzo Nibali without a partner for the second stage. However, Nibali decided not to abandon the race by taking part, out of the race, in all the following stages. The champion from Messina wants to continue his preparation in view of his spring objective, the Cape Epic, which will take place in South Africa from 19 to 26 March.
The Nibali-Santaromita couple, due to the fall, had finished the first stage in the rear, finishing in 45th place, separated by more than 26 minutes.
