Nibali quizzed by French police on cheese and Impressionist painters

Nibali questioned about Serge Gainsbourg

Vincenzo Nibali crossed over the Italian border into France for a three hour interview with French police.

After a few predictable questions about the incident on Alpe d’Huez that wiped out Nibali’s Tour de France hopes and wrecked his dream of winning the World’s road race, the police pressed the Italian on the answers to more important matters.

Question: Did Nibali prefer Pont l’Eveque cheese or, given the choice, would he rather have Brie de Meaux? This is of particular interest to French police as they attempt to gain a wider understanding on what led to Nibali’s crash.

Question: Does he like Serge Gainsbourg’s music from the early period, say, his “Left Bank” years or would he really rather listen to some of the Jamaican tracks Gainsbourg recorded in the 70’s? Gainsbourg was a tricky character and there is no easy answer.

Question: Given a short, touristic weekend in Paris, would he rather take in a show at the Moulin Rouge or a dinner cruise along the Seine? Both have their attractions, but what would the Italian chose?

Question: If Nibali could go back in time to the age of the Impressionists, would he rather be August Renoir or Claude Monet? While this would seem to have little bearing on a drunk fan knocking over Nibali on Alpe d’Huez, the French police believe it was a question worth asking.

Question: In a philosophical discussion on existentialism in a French cafe at midnight, would Nibali take the side of Jean Paul Sartre or would he lean more towards the arguments of writer Albert Camus?

Question: At a dinner party, would he crack open a bottle of red from the Burgundy region, something like a Nuits Saint Georges or would he select something from the Bordeaux region, a Chateau Malescot St. Exupery? Surely the Shark from Messina will have an informed opinion.

The discussion between French police and Vincenzo Nibali went on for three hours. Authorities believe that the information given to them by the Italian will help them reach a conclusion about the circumstances surrounding the Alpe d’Huez debacle.