According to Astana manager Giuseppe Martinelli, Vincenzo Nibali’s attack over the cobbles in stage 5 of the Tour de France showed a type of bravery cycling has been lacking in recent years.

“With respect to the past, for sure, yes [it is missing],” Martinelli told Italy’s Ciclo Web.

“You try to get the best result with the minimum effort. Just think, we used to see attacks in the feed zone… Today, no one does that, but not because no one can’t. If they did it, they’d be butchered.”

Nibali, in Yellow at the time, attacked with the help of his teammates and finished third on the stage, just behind Belkin’s Lars Boom and crossing the line tied with teammate Jakub Fuglsang, gaining 2-35 on Contador and 3-27 on Jean Christophe Peraud, the man who would finish as runner up three weeks later.

“The tactic was to race at the front, but that day he accomplished the same as in one of the summit finishes,” Martinelli said.

“We previewed the sectors and he showed that he was at ease. And of course, having the yellow jersey helped him. I knew we had a good team on hand, but I didn’t think he could pull of such a number.”

Nibali was the best climber out of the GC boys, but never took a gap again as big as it was that day on the cobbles.

Nibali also attacked in Milan-Sanremo, going clear on the Cipressa and riding 16km out front before being caught before the Poggio.

“Many people called his move silly, but if it was that way, then it’s my fault, not Vincenzo’s,” continued Martinelli.

“I thought that with a [Philippe] Gilbert or a [Fabian] Cancellara that he could change the race so that we wouldn’t see a sprint. If they had followed him, it would have been a different story. They knew we were going to do that on the eve of the race. Every year, it seems that everyone will attack but in the end – if you take out Vincenzo, Peter Sagan and a few others – nothing happens.”

Nibali will again target the Tour and while many have called for him to try and win Paris-Roubaix, Martinelli says he has courage to win and take time on the 2015 stage of the Tour on the cobbles again, the 260km Classic would be too much.

“It comes at another time of the year and it’d be very hard for him to compete with the big classics champions,” he added. “Besides, when you aim for the Tour, it’s not plausible that you are racing at a high level in that period.”