"He has the engine and the head to give it a try." Those are the words of Paolo Slongo, Nibali's trainer, when asked for an objective assessment of his possibilities of joining the select list of riders who have accomplished the hardest double of the cycling world: to win the Giro and the Tour in the same year.

Winner of the 2013 Giro and the 2014 Tour, Vincenzo Nibali has finished the season with a resounding goal in mind. With the courses for the two major tours now confirmed, the idea that has haunted his mind for several weeks, has started to become more real than ever before. Nibali wants the double. He wants to do both the Giro and the Tour but not with the idea of following wheels and see how they both pan out. He wants to go to both the Giro and the Tour to win and become the first since Pantani in 1998 to add his name to the winner's list in both Italy and France in the same year.

"It's an exiciting challenge but the final push has to come from the team," his trainer Paolo Slongo tells Gazzetta dello Sport. The Italian has travelled with Nibali to Japan for the Saitama Criterium and has started to plan next year's season. "We will discuss it with the team in late November. I already have a plan to present for them."

And Slongo has to argue his case which means convincing Astana manager Alexandre Vinokourov who wants Nibali to focus fully on the Tour and let Fabio Aru lead the team in the Giro.

"But we can talk," Slongo says. "Look at the 2014 season. Scarpoini was thought to only do the Tour to help Nibali but he was also important for Aru in the Giro. If we are convincing, then..."

How would a schedule for such a challenge look like. For almost everybody, it is unknown territory. The last rider to seriously give it a try was Alberto Contador. He won the 2011 Giro but was beaten by Cadel Evans and the Schleck brothers at the Tour. The Spaniard has also made the double a goal in 2015 and that will add spice to the matter.

The preparation would lead to a more gradual start, meaning that there will be no San Luis or Down Under in Januart. Mallorca and Dubai are also no options and Nibali will have to approach important races like Tirreno-Adriatico and the Ardennes Classics more calmly. Instead, Slongo advocates for training camps in the Dolomites and a repeat of the camp in San Pellegrino that worked so well before the Dauphine in 2014. Wind tunnel testing, workouts to find the best material and "above all, the desire to meet the challenge," Slongo says.

"In general, the Tour suits him better. In Italy, Froome has an advantage over Nibali in the 60km time trial. Between Contador and Nibali, I don't see much difference. The small downside is the fact that the Giro is hard right from the start and you cannot go to the start with the plan to improve your form over time. It is clear that Nibali cannot go to the Giro just to be part of the peloton," Slongo concludes.