Astana Pro Team rider Vincenzo Nibali did not finish among the leaders on Saturday in the first stage at the Tour de Pologne.

For Nibali, who won his native Giro d'Italia in May, the atypical start to the 70th Tour de Pologne - in Rovereto at the base of the Dolomites in Italy - was unusually difficult on its own merit and harder still for a defending Giro-winner returning to action. He finished 9"13 behind stage winner Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida).

"These first two days in Trentino are incredibly difficult, the stages that might determine the final outcome," said Astana Pro Team Director Sportif Giuseppe Martinelli on the team website.

"But we expected this after two months of not racing. Nibali had a long period of rest, and is now coming back to a peloton already in different stages of fitness. We are not troubled by this effort today, he came in serenely, with no overexertion, no mental reservations about not fighting for the stage, and will be ready for the rest of the week. It's another hard climb tomorrow, then a rest day transfer that is very unusual for a one-week stage race. It's important to get our riders through this unique challenge and on to the remaining stages in the Tour de Pologne," Martinelli said.

In a pre-race interview with Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport, the 28 year-old Sicilian explained that his next big goal is the world road championship title to be contested in Tuscany at the end of September. The Tour of Poland is the first stride toward that goal with the Vuelta España also part of Nibali’s preparation in his quest for the rainbow jersey.

"After winning the Giro I was kept pretty busy, I had a weeklong holiday and then started training again. We held a camp in the Dolomites with 16 Astana riders training together for two weeks," Nibali explained to Gazzetta dello Sport.

Nibali went on to explained that he would be starting the Polish stage race two kilos above his normal race weight and expected that to have some impact on his performance.

"I haven’t done a lot of training and I've put on two kilos. That's annoying but I know I've got time to make up for it. We'll see how I go in Poland. The most important thing is to not get stressed out to stay the front because my goals for this second part of the season are the Vuelta and the world championships."