Vincenzo Nibali has not had the spring season that he had hoped for and now La Gazzetta dello Sport can reveal an internal Astana letter that proves that his team doesn't appreciate his performances either. Team manager Alexander Vinokourov has made it clear that he wants better results in the future.

One year ago Vincenzo Nibali delivered one of the greatest successes ever for the Astana team when he secured the overall victory in the Giro d'Italia. This year, however, things certainly haven't gone to plan for the Italian star who has been largely invisible in the spring season.

After failing to perform in his biggest spring target, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Nibali publicly admitted that he had been disappointed with his own achievements but that he still hoped to turn things around for the Tour de France. Now La Gazzetta dello Sport can pulish a letter sent from Astana manager Alexander Vinokourov to the team's star rider in the period between the Belgian classic and Liege-Bastogne-Liege which makes it clear that the Kazakh is not satisfied either.

"We pay a lot, and we want to see great results. There are no excuses. We don't care about the reasons but so far the results have not been as we would have liked. We have to react because things are not going well," Vinokourov wrote.

Last year Nibali extended his contract until the end of the 2016 season and is reported to earn a yearly salary of around 4 million Euros.

La Gazzetta dello Sport also reports that there is an internal battle inside the team between the Kazakh part around directeur sportif Aleksander Shefer and the Italian part around Giuseppe Martinelli. "The differences are great and affect both the choice of material and rider schedules. Even in the medical field, the views are totally different," the paper reports.

Nibali will start the Dauphiné on Sunday. He last raced at the Tour de Romandie where he finished fifth overall, his best result so far in 2014.