Despite a fantastic end to the season that allowed him to win Il Lombardia and cement himself as not just one of the best Grand Tour riders ever, but one of the best ever, period, Vincenzo Nibali wasn’t quite happy with his 2015 season and has set high goals for himself next year.

“It's been difficult, really difficult at times. But I always tried to stay focused and not give up. My results aren't great, at least on paper, but I tried to be competitive and to fight whenever I could. I think that's part of my character. I've perhaps learnt more than ever before that not ever season can be the same. Last year was amazing because I won the Tour de France but this year things didn't go as well or as smoothly. But I've realised that with some determination you can always fight back and achieve something. I think a person's mental strength is especially important in moments like that and during the season I've had,” he told Cyclingnews.

Nibali could only finish fourth at the Tour and his expulsion from the Vuelta for holding onto a team car left the Astana rider’s name covered in mud and this gave him the anger to win big after he was able to race again.

“What happened at the Vuelta was a mistake, even if it was not only my mistake. But it actually gave me a chance to start all over again. Being expelled fro the Vuelta was almost a good thing, it helped me find some anger. I headed home to Sicily and trained really hard. There was nothing else I could do in that situation. But I didn't want to end my season that way, so I tried to fix some end of season objectives and prepare for them. Il Lombardia was the big one and the race that suited me the most.”

Nibali made the mistake of doing lots of press commitments over the winter in 2014 after taking the Tour, but this time he says he will have his recovery time but will spend plenty of time training this offseason too.

“I'm going to switch off from all the non-cycling activities but to be honest I won't spend a long time off the bike this winter. I've learnt that lesson. I'll still ride for a few hours and mix road ride with mountain biking. I'll ride my bike without being obliged to ride, which is probably the most enjoyable way. Of course I need my time to recover, but we're already looking at dates for training camps, so we will soon start all over again.”