Global Sports
“When I go very fast and attack the downhill, I take a risk,” says four-time Grand Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali. “It’s normal. It’s my work.”
“You play with your life,” adds Fabian Cancellara, one of the greatest Monument riders of all time. “Let’s be honest, that’s what we do. I don’t want to say I’m addicted to it. But it definitely has a little of that addiction.”
Descending is one of the core skills of the professional peloton. It is also a unique one. Unlike climbing or sprinting, it is less of a pure test of physical ability; more a reckoning of psychological and technical skill.
There is a craft to it, certainly, but also a genuine danger. Riders regularly travel at over 100kph, protected from the asphalt by only their reflexes, helmet, and lycra. It is an aspect of the sport where tragedy is a sad and lived reality. Earlier this month a 19-year-old rider, Samuele Privitera, died while riding in the Giro della Valle d’Aosta in Italy.
