For Vincenzo Nibali, Giro d'Italia will be the first big goal of the 2016 season and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be the second objective. His participation in the Tour de France is the big question but he seems to have found an alternative path to Rio instead of the French race.

The Astana leader confirmed his way to next year's Giro offers in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport after a public appearance with teammate Fabip Aru: A recon of the Olypmic road race course (January 10-12), Tour de San Luis (January 18-24), training camp on MountTeide (February 1-12), Tour of Oman (February 16-21), Strade Bianche (March 5), GP Prato (March 6), Tirreno-Adriatico (March 9-15), Milan-San Remo (March 19), training camp on Mount Teide (April 1-15), Giro del Trentino (April 19-22), Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 24) and the Giro d'Italia (May 6-30).

The schedule includes 28 days of competition, with 4 four stage races, three one-day races that are all well-known to him and two high-atitude training camps on Mount Teide in February and April. He will have early targets like Tirreno-Adriatico which he won in 2012 and 2013, and Liege, a monument that narrowly escaped him in 2012.

The road race at  the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is also on his mind. The Tour de France seemed to be his preferred preparation but now he may have found another path. "We're studying it with Slongo (trainer at Astana, ed.). Certainly the Giro, Tour and Olympic Games could be a bit excessive. Those who prepare at the Tours of Austria and and Poland do not have the same rhythm, but they can be an alternative," he told the Italian paper. While the Tour takes place between the 2nd and 24th of July, the races in Austria (July 3-10) and Poland (July 12-18) almost fill that gap. Fabio Aru will be the Astana leader in the Tour de France.

Nibali's grand tour results include 19th in the 2007 Giro; 11th in the Giro and 20th in the Tour in 2008; 6th in the 2009 Tour; 3rd in the Giro and ist in the Vuelta in 2010; 2nd in the Giro and 7th in the Vuelta in 2011; 3rd in the 2012 Tour ; 1st in the Giro and 2nd in the Vuelta in 2013; 1st in the 2014 Tour and 4th in the Tour and expulsion from the Vuelta in 2015.

In 2015, he was national champion, won a stage and finished fourth in the Tour de France, was disqualified in the Vuelta a Espana and had a spectacular victory in Il Lombardia, in addition to winning the classics Coppa Bernocchi and Tre Valli Varesini, after poor start to the season that included 13th in Liege, 10th in Romandie and 12th in the Dauphine.