Just before he lined-up at the Tour de France, at the point when he apparently stood one step behind the biggest title contenders Christopher Froome (Team Sky) and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), Vincenzo Nibali hinted that he won’t risk putting all eggs in one basket again next season, and even though the strategy seemed to work perfectly well for the Astana captain, he is still eager to try a difficult Giro-Tour double in 2015.

Nibali, attenting post-Tour criteriums held in Belgium, was unable to participate in the presentation of the 2015 Giro d’Italia Grande Partenza, but issued a video message in which he made clear that it was his ambition to ride both the Italian grand tour and the Tour the France next season if only it would be feasible to properly adjust his training programme.

Achieving such an ambitious goal, Nibali would be only the eight rider in history to do so, joining the likes of Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinauld or Miguel Indurain. The Sicilian-born Astana captain, aware of the difficulties such challenge presents, claimed he still would be eager to try due to his special bond with the Giro d’Italia, the event he won last season.

"I have a very special bond with the Giro because it’s the race that launched my Grand Tour career. It's good the Giro starts is Sanremo. Perhaps there will be a stage in Sicily too…" Nibali said in a video message played during the Giro d'Italia presentation in Milan.

"We've still got to decide my program for next year but I'd love to return to the Giro d'Italia."

"There's nothing wrong with trying, but winning both races in the same year is very difficult, not even Contador has managed to do it," Nibali said from Belgium while riding a series of post-Tour criteriums.

"I care too much about the Giro to ride and make a fool of myself. We'll see: perhaps with a good training programme we can try." 

In the interview for Corriere della Sera, Nibali also commented on typical doping-related questions the Tour de France winners are flooded with, and on an influence of Froome’s and Contador’s withdrawals on his commanding victory.

"My answer is always the same: crashes are part of the game," he said, seemingly irritated by the question.

"I arrived in Leeds with great form and would have given anyone a tough time. And when Contador quit, he was already two minutes down. Perhaps one day people will get bored with the same replies and change their questions." 

"Doping was part of this world, we know that. And questions about it don’t bother me: I care about replying properly because it's important to do so," he said.

"I've nothing to hide. Wiggins, Froome, and I are the new faces of the recent history of the Tour de France. Cycling is different now and I think I've shown that."