Tour winner Nibali could be worker bee at worlds

(ANSA) - Rome, July 28 - Vincenzo Nibali proved Monday that he has remained humble after winning the 2014 Tour de France, saying he may be used as a worker bee to help another Italian prevail at September's road world championships in Spain. "When I went to bed I was satisfied and had a smile on my face, but I was very tired, as if I'd done a stage in the Alps of the Pyrenees," Nibali told State broadcaster Rai Monday, a day after he became the seventh Italian to win cycling's top prize Sunday.
    "After the Tour it's not easy to prepare for the World Championships. "We'll decide on the basis on my condition whether to take part as the leader (of the Italian team) or to support the team, as I'm capable of being a worker too. We'll see". The Astana rider wore the yellow leader jersey for all but two stages of this year's Tour, four of which he won.
    He had a dose of luck after crashes forced last year's champion Chris Froome and double Tour winner Alberto Contador out early on.
    But he took full advantage, always finishing ahead of his rivals in the mountains, and was a worthy winner, ending the race over seven and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival, France's Jean-Christophe Péraud.
    Nibali has joined an elite club by becoming only the sixth rider to win all three of cycling's grand tours after Contador, Frenchmen Bernard Hinault and Jacques Anquetil, fellow Italian Felice Gimondi and Belgian Eddy Merckx.
    He won the Vuelta en Espana in 2010 and the Giro d'Italia last year.
    The last Italian to win the Tour was Marco 'the pirate' Pantani in 1998, when he also won the Giro.
    Pantani, whose career was hit by doping scandals, died aged 34 of a drugs overdose 10 years ago.