Vincenzo Nibali, entering his 18th season as a professional, showed his neo-pro mettle by jumping into the early breakaway on Sunday's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana final flat stage.

The Italian veteran, who has won all three Grand Tours and multiple monuments in his long career, could not resist testing his legs and challenging his rivals in his debut in the sky blue colors of Astana Cazacustan.

Nibali has suggested that 2022 could be his last season, but despite two difficult seasons at Trek-Segafredo, with the sport severely disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and a new generation of riders on the rise, the Sicilian is still not thinking about a post-race career and may continue until 2023. He told Cycling News that although he will turn 38 in November, he still enjoys racing.

"It was a bit of a crazy attack, to test my legs in the first race of the season and to have a bit of fun," Nibali said.

"I attacked to see what would happen, I was out of the GC, so I wanted to race hard rather than finish the race in the peloton. 90km at over 47km/h, so it was good training too. When was the last time you did something like that?

"I was happy with how my first race went. I have a few important goals ahead of me that I need to prepare for. Some of the athletes are already getting better with Altitude Camps and high intensity training. I am aiming for a longer and hopefully higher peak for the second half of the season."

Nibali will compete in the Giro d'Italia and perhaps even the Tour de France; 2022 is no swan song. In fact, his plans to ride all five monuments, including the Tour de Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, have been scrapped. He will spend most of April in the high country with several teammates preparing for the Giro. His key goals may no longer include a Maria Rosa contender, but he is taking 2022 very seriously.

"Racing and good results are the end of the process. I think it's important to stay focused and lay the foundation for a season without regrets," he said. [I don't want to say I want to win this race or finish on the podium. That may be a goal that is out of reach and out of my control now, but I want to work hard and see what happens. I am optimistic and enthusiastic

"I had a long discussion with the management of Astana Kazakstan about the race calendar. But after a detailed evaluation I realized that if I wanted to run the Giro and the Tour as well, that would not be possible.

"I would have to interrupt or miss the high altitude camp with the other riders, and I might even miss Liege-Bastogne-Liege. My training for the Giro will be turned upside down. I have decided to focus on my strengths and do the Giro and possibly the Tour as well. We agreed on that together and I committed to it.

Nibali's parma includes 11 Grand Tour podiums, two Giro d'Italia wins, the Vuelta a España, and a Tour de France win in 2014, all spread across the central decade of his career.

"I always want to do well in the Giro," he divulges, his pedigree still visible.

"This year's Giro passes through Sicily, and there's a stage finish in my hometown of Messina. That will be emotional. When I won the Giro di Sicilia last year, I realized how big it was."

Nibali shed tears of mixed joy and relief when he won the Giro di Sicilia in early October. This victory was his only win with Trek-Segafredo and showed that he could still compete and win at a certain level.

However, his two years with Trek-Segafredo were often difficult and ultimately disappointing. He came in as a Grand Tour contender, but finished seventh in the 2020 Giro d'Italia in October due to the COVID-19 epidemic. He recently revealed that in 2021, when he was 18th in the Giro, he suffered from knee problems after breaking his wrist a month before the start. His two years with Trek-Segafredo went mostly poorly and a lot of things went wrong.

When he joined Trek-Segafredo, one of the most international teams on the men's World Tour, Nibali spoke little English. Italian was his spoken language, and although he thrived on a team with Italian cycling culture, he did not seem to fit in at Trek-Segafredo.

He discussed his language problems in a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport. He does not seem to harbor any resentment and is more focused on his future at Astana Kazakstan than ruminating on the past.

"It has been a complicated two years. I was used to carefully planning everything and tackling everything, but COVID has turned the world upside down and turned cycling upside down," he explained of his broader background.

"We didn't always agree on everything, I may have misunderstood some moments, but that's life. Every team I have been on has had good moments and bad moments, but they have left me with good memories. Now I'm back in Astana Kazakstan and I still keep in touch with Sheikh Nasser from Bahrain, who I made the team with in 2017. I don't regret my time at Trek Segafredo and I don't think I will ever regret it.

"Winning the Giro di Sicilia was one of my great moments with Trek-Segafredo. The final result wasn't great and it wasn't what everyone wanted, but it was a great adventure. I still keep in touch with many of the riders on the team and I was happy the other day that Matteo Moschetti won. He has had a tough time with his injury, but I know how hard he has worked to come back and win again."

Nibali seems more comfortable in Astana Cazacustan, where he is no longer the team leader expected to contend for Grand Tour victories. That is the role of Miguel Angel Lopez. Nibali can ride according to his emotions, attack when he wants, take risks, and accept any result.

Astana Kazakstan gave Nibali a chance to return to the team he raced for from 2013 to 2016, winning the Giro d'Italia twice and the 2014 Tour de France. Both know it could be his last season, so they are celebrating his career and bidding him a season-long farewell.

But if the year goes well and Nibali's motivation is still there, he may continue racing; the swan song with five monuments could be in 2023.

"I signed a one-year contract with Astana Kazakstan, but I don't want to say I'm quitting after this year. Maybe, but maybe not," Nibali told Cycling News. [To be honest, I'm not thinking about what comes after my racing career. I'm focused on racing and training and enjoying everything. I can't say that I will never race next year, so there is a possibility that I will be in Paris-Roubaix or other monuments in 2023."

"If I told my wife I wanted to race, she would probably kill me, but I want to decide over the next few months and convince her,"