Vincenzo Nibali did not rule the Giro d'Italia as relentlessly as Alfredo Binda or Eddy Merckx, but like Francesco Moser and Felice Gimondi, he defined the Giro d'Italia era. He will be a central figure in the history of the race as it tells the story of the past decade.

His retirement at the end of this season leaves an obvious hole in the Giro's overarching narrative. For more than half of his career, the Giro has been Nibali's and one man's hometown hope: from 2010 to 2019, he has been on the podium six times in six participations, winning outright in 2013 and 2016.

Since the late Michele Scarponi won the Giro title back in 2011, only two Italians, Damiano Caruso and Fabio Al, have made the podium. Nibali, who returned to Astana Cazacstan this year at the age of 37, remained Italy's most obvious overall contender despite his protests until he lost time on Mount Etna.

Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo) continues to hope to develop as a three-week rider, and while we may yet see a leap forward this May, Gruppo has no instant replacement for Nibali, who will be in Verona on May 29. With this race in Verona on May 29, Italy is already facing a historic six-year gap without an overall winner. A further prolonged absence seems inevitable.

"At least for now, I don't see a great future. There are riders who are emerging, but they still have to show signs of taking the next step. It's a problem for Italian cycling right now," Giro director Mauro Veni told reporters in Palmi on Thursday.

Nibali's retirement is, of course, also a problem for the Giro. Although the Sicilian-born Nibali did not attract the fervent adulation of the late Marco Pantani, his credibility, like that of his historical predecessor Gimondi, made him the most recognizable figure for tifosi along the road and for casual observers on television.

Even during the past two years, when Nibali moved away from the podium, the screens of the host broadcaster constantly carried updates on the "Gruppo Nibali." And in 2020, when the Giro was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RAI naturally ran an ad campaign centered on Nibali. Whatever the winner, Nibali was always the star.

"The problem for the French is that they don't have a rider who can compete for GC in the Tour. For us Italians, it's certainly not good that we don't have a rider who can be the star of the Giro," Veni said. 'We will miss him a lot. But while he is still here, we will enjoy him."

Nibali's Giro debut came in 2007, when he competed from Liquigas in support of winner Danilo Di Luca, finishing 19th. A year later, Nibali's 11th place finish was relegated to a footnote, and his contemporary Riccardo Ricco fought with Alberto Contador for the final overall win. Riccardo Ricco and Di Luca, of course, would soon be caught up in anti-doping tests; in the first decade of the 21st century, such scandals were an everyday occurrence at the Giro; the EPO era was such a nightmare that the race was impossible to wake up from.

Nibali's subsequent development, starting with consecutive podium finishes in 2010 and 2011, presented a more attractive and marketable home candidate for the Giro. Vincenzo has always been free of doping talk."

In 2013, Nibali, competing from Astana, took his first overall win in an exhibition on the snow-clogged summit of Tre cime di Lavaredo.

"Of all the years he has been involved in racing, the one that sticks in my mind is the image of Vincenzo buried in the snow at Tre cime di Lavaredo," Veni said. 'He put his soul into it.'

Nibali, of course, did not run the Giro every year at the height of his career; he skipped the race in 2014 and 2015 to focus on the Tour de France, becoming only the second rider since Gimondi in 1965 to reach Paris in yellow. 2018's Giro is also his second attempt at the Tour He will miss the race in order to compete in the Tour, but Veni dismissed the notion that Nibali pressured him to make patriotic choices in his race program.

"I never really insisted, I just asked him in December what his plans were for the following season, and if he said, 'I have to be in the Tour this year,' that's all I had to say." The same is true for Filippo Ganna, who is competing in the Tour this year instead of the Giro. Vincenzo has chosen his sporting path correctly. He has given Italian cycling many honors at the Giro, San Remo, and Lombardia.

Nibali contributed to the Giro. The race directors know that. No more.

"I have said before that every era is characterized by one rider," Veni said. In the 1980s it was Ino, in the 1990s it was Indurain, in the 21st century it was Contador, and the rider who symbolized this decade was without a doubt Vincenzo. He was the guiding light of the era."