Astana captain lashes out at “scientific” Sky approach after Tirreno-Adriatico.

During a rain-drenched descent on Monday's stage in the Le Marche hills in the Tirreno-Adriatico Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) launched a spectacular and successful attack and turned the general classification upside down as he seized the race leader's blue jersey from Chris Froome (Sky) and distanced Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff). In many ways it was an act of innate, belligerent riding, which destroyed Team Sky's more rational and scientific methodology.

"Sky has a certain way of interpreting the race,” Nibali explained after the race on the Astana website. “Let’s call it scientific, even if it's perhaps not the right term. They work to impose their rules on the race. However, yesterday [Monday] you couldn't impose a pace; you need legs as certain kinds of strategy don’t work."

Nibali went on to clarify that he is in favour of race radios but against power meters. In a message on Twitter he went as far as to suggest banning power meters from races.

"People say radios ruin the racing but it’s the riders who decide the best tactic during the race, as I did with other riders yesterday. We aren't radio controlled from the team car," he argued.

"Power meters help you understand how you feel and show your limits but in certain moments we've seen how Sky control their effort. Without power metres that wouldn't be possible. At the Tour de France [2012], Team Sky controlled the race with a great team. At the Tour there weren't stages like yesterday or a hard day in the rain. Yesterday was important because I was able to build my success."