'I am not worried. I gained experience, I won the Vuelta as a captain.'
Italian Vincenzo Nibali is ready to prove he is not just a shooting star. His goal is to win the Giro d'Italia this season and back up his first Grand Tour win at the Vuelta a España.
Italy's leading sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport asked Nibali what it would mean to win his home Grand Tour.
"To prove that I'm not a shooting star and to realise a dream," Nibali responded. "People expect it. On the street, they ask me only about the Giro, they don't talk about the Tour [de France]. The Giro for is passion for us [Italians]. It is Fausto Coppi's race, the race that marked our history."
Nibali helped Liquigas captain Ivan Basso win the Giro d'Italia last year. He also wore the leader's pink jersey, won the mountain stage to Asolo and finished third overall. He had his chance to lead at Spain's Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España. He spent six days in the leader's jersey and after three weeks, won the race's general classification in Madrid.
He is starting this year from scratch despite his new status.
"I am starting again from scratch. I do so every year, focusing on a new big goal. I want it to be the same again in 2011," he said. "If I think that last season I was due to race the Tour, it all seems so unbelievable."
Ivan Basso is slated to skip the Giro d'Italia and focus on winning the Tour de France this year. That leaves 26-year-old Nibali as the captain of Italy's biggest team for Italy's biggest race, the Giro d'Italia.
"I am not worried. Last year, I gained experience, I won the Vuelta as a captain. And it's right that everyone focuses on his goal, to avoid conflicts. I always talk with Ivan, by telephone, and he continues to give me advice," continued Nibali.
"[I want] to confirm my results from the last to Grand Tours. I've had the Giro in my head for months. And then I could help Basso at the Tour."
This year's Giro d'Italia starts in Turin and ends in Milan. There are seven stages that end on mountains, including stage nine to Mount Etna. Nibali grew up in Messina, the start of stage nine.