Vincenzo Nibali is preparing himself for a big year that will see him go up against Chris Froome in the Tour de France. After winning the Giro d'Italia in 2013, he is under greater pressure to perform in the world's biggest bike race but is his usual tranquil self despite carrying the burden of expectations from the Italians on his shoulders.

Vincenzo Nibali has followed a gradual progression to become one of the best grand tour riders in the world. From his 19th place as a young Liquigas rider in the 2007 Giro d'Italia, he has gradually improved, first finishing on the podium in the 2010 Giro d'Italia after working for teammate Ivan Basso and winning the Vuelta a Espana later that year.

However, 2013 was the year when he finally made it into the elite of the very best grand tour riders in the world. After being beaten into 3rd by the Sky duo of Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome in the 2012 Tour de France, Nibali lined up at the Giro d'Italia as one of the two major favourites as he again took on Wiggins in a major stage race.

While Wiggins abandoned the race due to illness and injury, Nibali had a dominant ride through his home country, taking a crushing victory in Brescia after winning two stages at the end of the race. Already shortly after stepping down from the podium, his team made it clear that the performance had spurred them on to target the Tour de France and in 2014 Nibali will go up against the mighty Froome in France.

With two grand tour titles under his belt and the cycling-mad country of Italy longing after a new great grand tour star, Nibali is under increased pressure to deliver the goods. At the Astana presentation, he refused that the expectations are an extra burden.

“The pressure is more or less the same as last year," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "It’s normal that after the Giro d’Italia win the pressure has gone up a little bit, but it’s all the same to me and I’m very tranquillo."

Nibali had a great 2013 season that also saw him win the Tirreno-Adriatico and Giro del Trentino, finish 2nd in the Vuelta and 4th at the World Championships. He is aware that it will be hard to match that kind of success in 2014.

"I won’t say the expectation is to do the same season as last year, but I want to do something good,” hesaid. “Of course last year was a great season, when I started very strongly with the win at Tirreno and then won Trentino and the Giro, and came second at the Vuelta, and it will be very hard to repeat it.”

In 2014, Nibali will have maybe the strongest team at his disposal. Riders like Janez Brajkovic, Tanel Kangert, Fabio Aru, Paolo Tiralongo and Jakob Fuglsang have been joined by Michele Scarponi, Lieuwe Westra and Mikel Landa to form a simple formidable roster.

Scarponi will have the role as lieutenant and is set to lead the team in the Giro before supporting Nibali in the Tour. Nibali praises his new teammate who is a great addition to the Kazakh squad.

“Michele Scarponi is a fantastic person. He puts you in good humour and from the first training camp, he slotted into the team very well,” he said. “His role is to help me at the Tour, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a leader in other races and I’ll be there to help him.”

Another change is that he will be reunited with trainer Paolo Slongo with whom he worked together at Liquigas.

“I would have liked to have had him by my side last year, but he had other contractual obligations, so I got by a bit by myself and with [Astana trainer Maurizio] Mazzoleni,” Nibali told Tuttobici. “Paolo even came to Sicily and I did physical tests with him. Needless to say, we have big ambitions and we’re ready for the challenge.”

Nibali will have a changed racing schedule and confirmed that he will miss the Giro. The Milan-Sanremo is likely to be his only Italian race as he will swap the Tirreno for Paris-Nice and will do the Criterium International before focussing on the Ardennes classics.

He will start his season on January 20 at the Tour de San Luis.