A tale of Nibali, Mosquera and a place called Bola del Mundo...

Being without cable can be a bit of a drag at certain times of the year, round about the beginning of July for instance. However Universal Sports has made up for it, first with daily Giro coverage, and now the Vuelta. Today's battle atop the Bola del Mundo, and what a climb that was, getting progressively steeper at the top. Vincenzo Nibali managing to never let Ezequiel Mosquera get more than 20 second ahead, and then to catch right at the line was an amazing display of sheer determination to not let the race slip through his fingers. Nibali showed a lot of talent in helping teammate Ivan Basso to victory in the Giro, and appears set to realize that talent on tomorrow's finishing stage.

Of course of equal interest to me is the progress of Nicolas Roche, you can read the VeloNation interview with him from September 14 here. 15th in the Tour, and now an apparent 7th in the Vuelta; could he follow in his father's slipstream? There have been expectations of sons following after famous fathers in the past that did not quite live up to the hype. Only time will tell, since it seems that Nicolas has the talent and drive to succeed.