As the defending champion, Vincenzo Nibali was present at today's presentation of the Tour de France route. The Italian praised the course and expects the penultimate stage to Alpe d'Huez to be decisive.

For the first time in his career, Vincenzo Nibali attended the Tour de France presentation as the defending champion, making him a busy man in the mixed zone after the race. With limited time trialling and a return of the cobbles, it was a general assessment that the course suits the Italian perfectly.

Unsurprisingly, Nibali praised the course.

"It's a nice Tour," he said in the mixed zone. "There is only one individual time trial and a demaning team time trial. The first week will be very nervous because of the wind and the cobbles. The second week will be an intermediate phase and finally we will get to the climbs that will decide the race."

One year ago, Nibali laid the foundations for his overall win on the cobbles. For the second year in a row, the rough surface will play a big role when the riders tackle 13.3km of pave on stage 4.

"I like it but I know it will be a very difficult stage and it will be important to do a recon, to test the bike and the equipment," he said. "And I believe that the Alpe d'Huez will have the final word in determining my destiny in the race.

"Due to the history and charm, the stages to Plateau de Beille and Alpe d'Huez are my favourites."

Nibali has played with the thought of doing the Giro-Tour double but also has to take Fabio Aru's emergence into consideration. Today he refused to commit himself to his home race.

"We know that it is very exhausting to fight for the win in a grand tour. It is a possibility that I will do both but we have to talk about in at the first team gathering. But I want to be there."