Fabio Aru – bright future?
Fabio Aru – bright future?
Fabio Aru finished the Giro d’Italia looking very strong, finishing on the overall podium for the second time running – and making it three top-five finishes at his last three Grand Tours.
The young Italian is exactly what his home country needs as the likes of Ivan Basso, Michele Scarponi and Damiano Cunego – all former Giro winners – head towards retirement.
He was out-done spectacularly on the Mortirolo, and his time trialling let him down on stage 14 too, but there is plenty of cause for optimism too.
Astana are in rude health, despite a winter of discontent off the bike with doping scandals and nearly the removal of their WorldTour licence.
Alongside Aru, Mikel Landa shone – also picking up two stage wins and a spot on the final podium.
With Vincenzo Nibali set for the Tour de France defence too, the Kazakh-based team are back to doing what they do best on the road.
In Aru and Landa they have two of the sport’s brightest prospects too, with Landa now joining his team-mate in the realms of future Grand Tour hopefuls.
The strength in numbers Astana had on so many occasions should concern their rival teams too – the sight of their sky blue jerseys on the front was almost like what we have come to expect from Team Sky instead.
There are plenty of areas for both men to improve – and they will need to fight for outright leadership too – but both Aru and Landa have potential to be very special.