"When he lost races or crashed out, it was most important that we were there" - Agent Alex Carera on relationship with Vincenzo Nibali

Alex Carera comes from Italy and is one of the world’s leading cycling agents. The man who manages superstars like Tadej Pogacar from behind the scenes founded A&J All Sports with his brother Johnny in the late 90s and since then, many stars of the cycling world came through Carera's hands.

Perhaps the greatest success of Carera's agent career was the discovery of winner of four Grand tours Vincenzo Nibali back in 2003, he tells Portuguese Cycling Magazine. "It is not easy to manage 'Il Squalo'" he laughs. "I signed him when we were at the World Championships in Canada. He was under-23 at the time and he stayed his entire career with us. Sometimes we fight because we don’t have the same opinions, but we work together in a transparent way."

Despite the fact that Nibali has retired from professional cycling at the end of 2022, he still stays in touch with Carera's agency. "Now, we stay in contact every week, and we stayed closer to him when he lost more than when he won. When he won, he didn’t need too much help, but when he lost races or crashed out, it was most important that we were there."

For example? "I remember two times in particular. When he crashed at the Olympic Games [2016], and he came to Italy, but his wife was not in Italy. Then we stayed one night together with him, because he was alone in the hospital. And the second time was when I picked him up after his crash on Alpe d’Huez, and I brought him to his home in Switzerland. He was a little bit disappointed, because he had the opportunity to win the second Tour de France, but he crashed because one fan touched him. These are the times when we need to stay close to others."