According to Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali, he would not have won the race if the organization had not imposed a stricter policy on drugs.
Italian professional road bicycle racer, Nibali, won the recently concluded Tour de France. He has been regarded as a clean rider and that he proved to people that a rider can win without cheating.
With regards to this, Nebali said "Steps have been taken and great progress has been made and with it so my results have arrived. I have to thank them (doping controllers) because without these iron controls maybe I wouldn't be here today."
Now that Nebali has won his third tour, he will join six other riders who have won all three Grand Tours. But for Nebali, winning the Tour de France means something more special.
According to Nebali "For me the Vuelta was the most important because it showed me that I could aim to win big tours like the Giro and the Tour in the following years. As an Italian it's obvious that for me the Giro is very important but it's also special for the Italian fans."
He added "But what makes the Tour so much bigger is the international attention it demands. It's different, it's bigger, it's more beautiful. "The level of competition is also higher than the others, although I had great rivals in both the Giro and the Vuelta."
The Shark is the tenth Italian to win the Tour de France but he feels that he still has lots to improve to match the accomplishments of the other Italians who won the race. Aside from that, he still has a lot of ambitions for the race. He said "I've taken my place in the history of the Tour and that's very important but those others also made their names in other great races, such as the Classics. I never thought about making history, I just concentrated on trying to win the Tour, like I won the Giro and the Vuelta, because I'm a stage racer."
He added "Of course there are other races that I want to win like the Tour of Lombardy in which I've come close many times but not had the luck, or the World Championships which I tried to win last year, or Liege-Bastogne-Liege. I've always liked these races and I'd like to try to win them, even though I'm more suited to stage races."
