Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) has set his sights on a second grand tour win this season as he is finalizing his preparations for the Vuelta a Espana these days. Having recently finished 3rd in the Vuelta a Burgos, he feels confident that he will reach the level that allowed him to win the Giro earlier this year.

The Italian press had started to doubt Vincenzo Nibali's chances of winning the Vuelta a Espana when he delivered a below-par performance in the Tour de Pologne. However, the Italian bounced back with a good showing in last week's Vuelta a Burgos where a 4th place in the final queen stage to Lagunas de Neila allowed him to step onto the lowest step of the podium.

Having been encouraged by his performance in Spain, Nibali is now confident that he will be in contention for the win in what will be his second grand tour of the season. Asked about whether he would be able to reach the level that allowed him to win the Giro, he was clear in his assessment.

 "Yes, because when I was third in the Giro and won the Vuelta in 2010, I was able to race at a high level in two grand tours. Since then I have grown a lot. Therefore it is possible," he told Gazzetta dello Sport.

Nibali has earlier said that his main objective in the second half of the season is the world championships road race on home soil and so many had doubted that he would race the Vuelta with GC ambitions. The Italian now confirms that he intends to go for the win in Spain.

"The desire to fight for the GC is there" the 2010 Vuelta winner said. "I'm proud to be one of the few Italians who has won. If this is not possible, I'll go for stage wins. In any case, I want to leave my mark."

He feels confident that he will be able to maintain his condition for the worlds.

"I won't lose the Vuelta condition for the worlds," he said. "Three years ago in Geelong, I did a good race, and if I enter the Vuelta at 75-80%, I will be in peak condition at the finish."

Nibali hit back on the critics that had questioned him after his Poland performance.

"I'm not a robot," he said. "None of my colleagues are. I don't have a coat on my back with Superman S. You can not be in front at every race and you know that my post-Giro commitments were pretty intense. Normally, you should pay for that in a race like the Tour of Poland and the first two stages were very demanding. For the Vuelta, Burgos was an important step and it worked out really well."

While rivals Ivan Basso and Samuel Sanchez have travelled from Burgos to Asturias to check out the Angliru climb that will offer a spectacular finish to the penultimate Vuelta stage, Nibali has preferred not to recon any of the stages.

"I don't have much time and the best for me is to train alone at home, doing the last block of work I need," he said. " To go to altitude would also be a bit risky as I could pay for it in the first stages of the Vuelta which are very demanding. In any case, I am going to suffer a bit in the beginning but I will return to my Giro level."

The Vuelta starts on August 24 with a team time trial in Galicia.