Vincenzo Nibali Visits SIDI, and the Hospital

Vincenzo Nibali, "the shark from the strait", recently visited the SIDI headquarters in Maser (Treviso). Winner of the 2010 Vuelta a Espana, Nibali brought Dino Signori a really special gift, the red jersey from the Vuelta with one of his two Ergo 2 Carbon Lite shoes, autographed with a dedication to Sidi.
"Shoes are essential because they are a means by which the athlete is joined with his bike", explained Nibali. "It's the transmitter that expresses the force and power of the muscles to the road. I have a special relationship with my Sidi. Usually, over the course of a season, I don't use more than four pairs of shoes. It's become a tradition that about three weeks before a big stage race or goal I'm preparing for, I get a new pair of Sidi, put on the new clips and begin preparing to take on the adventure. It's almost become a good luck ritual. All the Sidi models are extremely resistant and last a long time, but in a major three week race, your shoes, like your bike and all your equipment, undergo a great deal of stress: falls, rain, dust and mud. For example, after the Giro I continued using the same Ergo 2 Carbon Lit for about three weeks before changing them. It means a lot to me to line up at the start of each new major event with my shoes in perfect shape, neat, clean and in order; that's just how I am."

As a gift Nibali was presented him with a pair of Ergo 2 Carbon Lite in the new “bronze” version.
On Tuesday Nibali checked into the hospital in Lucca for the removal of a plate and screws that had been inserted after he sustained a fracture of his left collarbone at the Elenco Tour in 2009. The operation lasted two hours and was successful.

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