Top Italian award for Nibali

Paris - Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali was named champion of champions for 2014 by Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday.

The Sicilian had been named top Italian the previous year when he won the Giro d'Italia.

For this title, he beat MotoGP champion Marc Marquez into second with Formula One winner Lewis Hamilton taking the third spot.

Nibali took over the mantle from Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt.

The women's award went to Slovenian skier Tina Maze, the Olympic champion in the downhill and giant slalom, ahead of Americans Serena Williams, the US Open tennis champion, and Katie Ledecky, the Olympic 800m freestyle swimming champion.