Most tipped Vincenzo Nibali to be the winner in the tricky first week of the Tour de France. However, things haven't turned out as expected for the defending champion who has lost a massive 2.22 to Chris Froome.

Italian media have even suggested that he has already given up but in his rest day press conference he denied that he is about to throw in the towel.

“I don’t know what has been reported in the Italian media about my race so far," he said. "I feel good but no two years are the same in cycling. The only thing I can do is stay relaxed, focused and keep pedalling. It’s true I had a bad day on the Mur de Bretagne finish but it was a tough finish and what happened to me is the same that happened to Contador on the Mur de Huy finish.

“In truth the stage to Zeeland was the most difficult for me, it was tough to accept that I’d lost a chunk of time. But at the Tour de France you’ve got to take things day by day and fight back. I’ve got to be good at seizing the moment.

“The truth is that it’s been a hard first week full of stress and nervous racing. But it’s also true that we haven’t seen the real mountains yet. From tomorrow we’ll know a lot more. At the moment we know that Chris is riding well. I just hope that my coach Paolo Slongo is right; he reckons he could fade in the Alps.

“I want to see if the real Nibali is around. More than anything, I want some answers for myself. I still haven’t felt as good as I did last year, I hope it happens starting from tomorrow. Will I attack? We’ll see. If there’s a chance, why not?”