Wednesday 6 July 2016 19:45, UK
Vincenzo Nibali insisted the 8min 38sec he lost to the overall favourites on stage five of the Tour de France was "normal" and part of his plan.
The 31-year-old Italian, who won the Tour in 2014 and the Giro d'Italia for the second time in May, was dropped from the peloton with just under 35km remaining and is now out of contention for a place on the podium at almost nine minutes down on the likes of Chris Froome and Nairo Quintana.
Froome expressed his surprise at the result and said he expected Nibali to "come here with his A game".
However, the Italian said it has always been his intention to support Astana team leader Fabio Aru, while also using the Tour as a fitness-builder for next month's Olympic road race.
Nibali said: "Nothing happened. I'm all right. It's normal. I knew I was coming on this Tour de France to work for my team and for Fabio Aru. The legs didn't work well, so I gave up.
"We said it from the start: Fabio is the one who matters. I already won the Giro and it took a lot of energy. The goal is to help Fabio and to build good form for the Olympics."
Nibali is one of only six riders in history to have won all three grand tours but will now revert to being one of the most highly decorated domestiques of all time.
He is happy with the role and confident that Aru can challenge for overall victory.
"I feel really free," Nibali added. "I believe that in the coming weeks, the whole team will be at the top. Today, it didn't go so well. But Fabio is in great shape and we will try to have a good race."
The Tour continues on Thursday with a 190.5km sixth stage from Arpajon-sur-Cere to Montauban. Find out more about the route in a our race guide and follow the stage with our live blog from 1pm BST.
