After taking the pink jersey on stage 20 of the Giro and all but guaranteeing a second overall title, Vincenzo Nibali’s Astana GM Alexandre Vinokourov hopes the Italian star will opt to stay with the Kazakh team for 2017.

Nibali’s win means the squad has won one Grand Tour in each of the last four seasons, with Nibali bringing in three of those. He has been heavily linked to the new Bahrain project, but “Vino” hopes the Italian champion will stay where he is.

"It's a special day for Vincenzo and all the team. We again showed that team work can make a big difference. We were united together, right to the end and so this is a team victory," Vinokourov told Cyclingnews after watching Nibali pull on the maglia rosa.

Vinokourov says this is Astana’s best ever Grand Tour win, with Nibali not even looking likely to make the podium after 18 stages.

"If someone had said a week ago that'd we'd win the Giro, I'd have struggled to believe them. We said we'd try everything but things were against us. It's a great victory," Vinokourov said.

"I think this is the best Grand Tour we've ever won. We've won the Tour with Vincenzo but taking the leader's jersey on the last climb of the last mountain stage is incredible."

"The time trial was a disaster. But I gathered the team together on the rest day and said we had to put it behind us and start all over again. Vincenzo changed mentally after that. Some people said that 4:40 was impossible to pull back but we never stopped believing that it was possible."

Despite the seemingly constant rumours that Nibali will sign for the new Bahrain team, Vinokourov says he has signed no contract and Astana are very keen to keep him.

"Let's see what happens… If Vincenzo hasn't already taken a decision, let's see what the future brings," Vinokourov said. "You never know but we've got to decide things before the Tour de France."