 Aru at the2015 Vuelta a España | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Fabio Aru |
| Nickname | The Knight of thefour Moors (Italian:Il cavaliere dei quattro mori) |
| Born | (1990-07-03)3 July 1990 (age 34) San Gavino Monreale,Sardinia,Italy |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb; 9 st 13 lb)[1] |
| Team information | |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| Rider type | Climber |
| Amateur team | |
| 2009–2012 | Palazzago |
| Professional teams | |
| 2012–2017 | Astana[2] |
| 2018–2020 | UAE Team Emirates[3][4] |
| 2021 | Team Qhubeka Assos[5] |
| Major wins | |
Grand Tours
| |
Fabio Aru (born 3 July 1990) is an Italian former professionalroad bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2012 and 2021 for theAstana,UAE Team Emirates andTeam Qhubeka NextHash squads.[6] He hails fromSan Gavino Monreale inSardinia, and is known for his climbing ability, which made him a favorite for theGrand Tours. He is known as "The Knight of the four Moors", a reference to his native island ofSardinia.
During his career, Aru won stages in all threeGrand Tours, including a stage at theTour de France, three stages at theGiro d'Italia and two stages at theVuelta a España, and won the 2017Italian National Road Race Championships. Alongside his stage wins, Aru has also worn the race leader's jersey in all threeGrand Tours. In 2014, Aru placed third overall in theGiro d'Italia and fifth in theVuelta a España. The following year, he finished second in theGiro d'Italia before taking his only overall Grand Tour win at theVuelta a España. His best finish at theTour de France came in2017 where he was 5th.
Aru was born inSan Gavino Monreale,Sardinia and was raised inVillacidro.[7] At the age of 18 he moved to mainland Italy to pursue a cycling career.[8] He joined thePalazzago team where he won theGiro della Valle d'Aosta in 2011 and 2012. Also in 2012, he finished second behind American riderJoe Dombrowski in theBaby Giro.[9]
Aru joinedAstana during the 2012 season after four years with the Palazzago domestic team in Italy.
In 2013 he finished fourth overall in theGiro del Trentino, also claiming the young rider classification. He rode his first Grand Tour, theGiro d'Italia, in support of team leaderVincenzo Nibali. He helped Nibali win the race overall, finishing 42nd himself.
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In 2014, Aru again rode theGiro d'Italia, with the expectation of supporting former winnerMichele Scarponi. However, Aru proved stronger than his teammate and on Stage 15 took his first professional victory by winning on the summit finish ofMontecampione. Aru went on to finish the Giro in third place overall behindNairo Quintana (Movistar Team) andRigoberto Urán (Omega Pharma–Quick-Step), reaching the podium in just his second Grand Tour.[10]
In his next Grand Tour, theVuelta a España, Aru won the Stage 11 summit finish atop theSantuario de San Miguel de Aralar, attacking the leading group in the final kilometre.[11] He repeated the feat on Stage 18 finishing at Monte Castrove; he escaped withChris Froome near the end of the climb and outsprinted his rival.[12] He finished the race, won byAlberto Contador, in fifth overall.[13]
He finished his season in the Italian Autumn classics, placing fourth inMilano–Torino and ninth in theGiro di Lombardia.
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In 2015, Aru came in sixth at theVolta a Catalunya. In April, he missed theGiro del Trentino because of an intestinal ailment.[14]Greg Henderson accused Aru of faking the ailment, and actually skipping due to a pending biological passport case.[15] Aru promised to sue Henderson for his accusations as he was preparing for theGiro d'Italia.[16] In May 2015, it was announced that Aru's contract with Astana was renewed until the end of 2017.[17] The Giro d'Italia started off poorly for Aru's Astana team, losing seconds toAlberto Contador and theTinkoff–Saxo team. However, in the first week of racing, Aru attacked Contador in the mountains as he was led by his Astana team, remaining only seconds behind Contador in the general classification battle.[18][19] When Contador crashed on stage 13 in a pile-up, Aru crossed the line well in front of Contador, securing the first pink jersey of his career.[20] However the next day, a 59.3-kilometre (36.8-mile) individual time trial, hyped as the Giro's determining day, Aru lost 2 and a half minutes to Contador, thus losing the pink jersey.[21] He lost more time in the Mortirolo stage, but bounced back on Stage 19 to take an emotional solo victory.[22] On Stage 20 featuring theColle delle Finestre, Aru won his second consecutive stage, taking two minutes from Contador but failing to take the pink jersey.[23]
Aru returned to racing at theTour de Pologne and finished in 5th place as he prepared for his next season target, theVuelta a España. He performed well in the first week, taking the red leader's jersey after finishing second on stage 11, the Vuelta's queen stage.[24] He held the lead by a handful of seconds before losing it toJoaquim Rodríguez on stage 16.[25] On stage 17, a 38-kilometre (24-mile) individual time trial, he was able to perform very well and keep himself within 3 seconds of the winner of the stage and new leader of the Vuelta,Tom Dumoulin. Over the final days, Aru attacked Dumoulin repeatedly, trying to place himself back in red. It was not until the penultimate mountain day that Aru succeeded, dropping Dumoulin and advancing himself towards his first Grand Tour win.[26]
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Aru started his 2016 season, at theVolta a la Comunitat Valenciana where he finished 6th overall. He then raced theVolta ao Algarve, and finished 9th overall after taking 2nd place on the last stage. He took his only victory of the season, at theCritérium du Dauphiné where he won Stage 3 after attacking on the downhill inside the last 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) of the stage. His main goal of the season was theTour de France, and after Stage 8 Aru was 7th overall but dropped to 13th on the following stage toAndorra Arcalis. He managed to get into the top 10 again on Stage 12 toMont Ventoux. He had a mechanical problem on the stage, and had problems getting back into the bunch before the climb to Mont Ventoux. He received help from theAstana team car, as he was paced for a while, resulting in a time penalty post-stage. On the last mountain stage he was not feeling well, and ended up losing 13 minutes to his main rivals, dropping to 13th place in the general classification.[27]
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Going into the 2017 season, Aru was targeting the 100th edition of theGiro d'Italia. He showed good form early on in the season with his first podium place coming at theTour of Oman, where he finished 3rd overall. He finished 8th overall in his following race at theAbu Dhabi Tour. In April, in a training camp atSierra Nevada, Aru crashed and hurt his knee. He received no fractures to the knee but it was swollen a lot, and he was recommended by a doctor to stay off the bike for several days in order to recover properly, missing the Giro d'Italia as a result.[28] He returned to racing in June at theCritérium du Dauphiné, and finished 5th overall. One week before theTour de France, Aru won theItalian National Road Race Championships for the first time in his career.[29] He later described this victory as the best moment in his career.[30]
At the Tour de France, Aru won the 5th stage attacking on the climb toLa Planche des Belles Filles, 2.2 kilometres (1.4 miles) from the finish line. After that stage he wore the polka dot jersey for three days. On stage 9 he was accused of unsportsmanlike behaviour after attacking yellow jersey holderChris Froome as the latter suffered from a mechanical issue. The camera captured Aru attacking from behind right when he realized Froome had a mechanical.[31] On stage 12 he attacked on the climb toPeyragudes and he took the yellow jersey from Froome. In the next stages he struggled with bronchitis[32] and he finished fifth overall in his second Tour de France. This was his best general classification finish in a Grand Tour following his 2015 Vuelta a España win, and his win on stage 5 was the ninth and final victory of his career.[6]
After riding 6 seasons withAstana, Aru signed a three-year contract withUAE Team Emirates.[33] He started his season at theAbu Dhabi Tour but only finished 13th overall. At the following race,Tirreno–Adriatico, Aru finished 4th to Sarnano Sassotetto, but was struggling on other decisive stages, meaning he once again missed out on the top 10, in 12th place. His first top 10 finish of the season came at theTour of the Alps. Aru could not follow the pace of his fellowGiro d'Italia contendersChris Froome,Thibaut Pinot,Domenico Pozzovivo,Miguel Ángel López andGeorge Bennett, and ended the race in 6th position.
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At the Giro d'Italia, he finished alongside many of the strong Giro contenders on the stage toMount Etna, and moved up to 10th position after the stage. However, on the following mountain stages, Aru did not manage to finish with the strongest riders meaning that he dropped to 22nd place after the 2nd week of racing. However he bounced back on the next stage, which was a mainly flattime trial. He finished 8th on the stage but was later penalised due to pacing.[34] Aru finally withdrew from the race on Stage 19.[35] Aru explained he had suffered from a gluten and dairy intolerance since 2015 but never got to the bottom of it. Aru and his personal coachPaolo Tiralongo made his training too hard, and spent too much time at altitude which meant his body was fatigued already going into the Giro d'Italia.[36] He returned to racing at the end of July, at theTour de Wallonie, and finished 10th overall. A week later at theTour de Pologne, Aru finished 10th overall once again. He started theVuelta a España as one of the main favourites.[37] However his form was fluctuating, and he was over 10 minutes behindSimon Yates, starting stage 17. On the stage, Aru crashed before the final climb which ripped his shorts. Aru reacting angrily while calling for a new bike; as a result, he had to formally apologise toColnago'sErnesto Colnago by telephone after the stage.[38]
In March 2019, following a disappointing start of the season, Aru was diagnosed with a constriction of the iliac artery and underwent anangioplasty surgery, which forced him out from racing for several months. As a result, his immediate plans to ride theVolta a Catalunya, as well as theGiro d'Italia were abandoned.[39] Aru was back on his bike at altitude training in Sestriere in May. He made his comeback to racing in June, at theGran Premio di Lugano where he finished 22nd.[40] A week later he started his firstTour de Suisse.
In December 2020, Aru signed a one-year contract withTeam Qhubeka Assos, for the 2021 season.[41] Shortly before theVuelta a España, Aru announced that he would retire from cycling at the conclusion of the race.[6] His best results from his final season, were a pair of second-place overall finishes at theSibiu Cycling Tour and theVuelta a Burgos.[42]
Aru resides in theSwiss city ofLugano, a few kilometres north of the Italian border.[43] Aru suffers from a gluten and dairy intolerance which means he struggles with food intake. He has cut away dairy from his diet, and has also limited the amount of pasta he eats in order to keep his diet on track.[36] After his retirement from cycle racing, Aru expressed an interest in competing intriathlon in the future.[30]
OverallGiro della Valle d'Aosta OverallGiro della Valle d'Aosta
OverallToscana-Terra di Ciclismo
Young rider classification
OverallVuelta a EspañaYoung rider classification
after Stage 13
Road race, National Road Championships after Stages 12–13
after Stages 5–7| Grand Tour general classification results | |||||||||
| Grand Tour | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giro d'Italia | 42 | 3 | 2 | — | — | DNF | — | — | — |
 Tour de France | — | — | — | 13 | 5 | — | 14 | DNF | — |
| Vuelta a España | — | 5 | 1 | — | 13 | 23 | DNF | — | 51 |
| Major stage race general classification results | |||||||||
| Race | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
| Paris–Nice | — | — | 39 | — | — | — | DNF | — | 26 |
 Tirreno–Adriatico | — | — | — | — | DNF | 12 | — | — | — |
 Volta a Catalunya | 70 | 21 | 6 | 14 | — | DNF | — | NH | — |
| Tour of the Basque Country | — | — | — | DNF | — | — | — | 24 | |
| Tour de Romandie | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
 Critérium du Dauphiné | — | — | — | 45 | 5 | — | — | — | 26 |
| Tour de Suisse | — | — | — | — | — | — | 21 | NH | — |
| Monument | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milan–San Remo | Did not contest during his career | |||||||||
| Tour of Flanders | ||||||||||
| Paris–Roubaix | ||||||||||
| Liège–Bastogne–Liège | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 61 |
| Giro di Lombardia | DNF | DNF | 9 | — | 11 | 7 | 54 | — | DNF | — |
| — | Did not compete |
|---|---|
| DNF | Did not finish |
| DSQ | Disqualified |
| NH | Not held |
| IP | In progress |
