Giro D'Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali has signed a new contract with Astana.
The Sicilian signed a deal rumoured to be worth around four million euros a year to stay at the Kazakhstan based team until 2016.
In a press statement, Astana Team Manager Alexandre Vinokourov said: "We are very pleased to prolong our contract with Vincenzo Nibali today in Astana, and look forward to supporting his clear-eyed start to the Vuelta a España in August and a strong run at the World Championships in Firenze at the end of September.
"To have a great champion on Astana Pro Team ahead of Expo 2017 in Kazakhstan's capital will help to broadcast around the globe that our cycling federation has world-class talent to go with its world-class ambitions. Next year we will look to bring Vincenzo to the 2014 Tour de France,"
Nibali has checked out the course for the World Championships already and feels that it will be a tough but a quick one with the climb at Fiesole, one likely to sort out the riders.