Fabio Aru

Fabio Aru
Personal information
Aru at the 2013 Tour of Austria
Full name	Fabio Aru
Born	(1990-07-03) 3 July 1990 San Gavino Monreale, Sardinia, Italy
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	65 kg (143 lb)
Team information
Current team	Astana
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	All-Rounder
Professional team(s)
2009–2012	Palazzago
2012–	Astana
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 individual stage (2014) Vuelta a España 2 individual stages (2014)
Infobox last updated on 05 March 2015

Fabio Aru (born 3 July 1990) is an Italian professional road bicycle racer for UCI ProTeam Astana.^[1]

Career

Early Career

Aru was born in San Gavino Monreale, Sardinia. At the age of 18 he moved to mainland Italy to pursue a cycling career at under 23 ranks.^[2] He joined the Palazzago team where he won the Giro della Valle d'Aosta twice (in 2011 and 2012). In 2012 he also finished runner up to American rider Joe Dombrowski in the Baby Giro^[3]

Astana (2012-present)

Aru at the 2015 Paris-Nice

Aru joined the Astana Pro Team during the 2012 season, after four years with the Palazzago domestic team in Italy. In 2013 he finished fourth overall in the Giro del Trentino, also claiming the Young Riders' Jersey. He rode his first Grand Tour, the 2013 Giro d'Italia, in support of team leader Vincenzo Nibali. He helped Nibali win the race overall, finishing 42nd himself.

In 2014, Aru again rode the 2014 Giro d'Italia, with the expectation of supporting former winner Michele Scarponi. However, Aru proved stronger than his teammate and on Stage 15 took his first professional victory by winning on the summit finish of Montecampione. Aru went on to finish the Giro in third place overall behind Nairo Quintana (Team Movistar) and Rigoberto Urán (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), reaching the podium in just his second Grand Tour.^[4]

In his next Grand Tour, the 2014 Vuelta a Espana, Aru won the Stage 11 summit finish atop Alto de San Miguel de Aralar, attacking the leading group with one kilometer to go.^[5] He repeated the feat on Stage 18 finishing Monte Castrove. He escaped with Chris Froome near the end of the climb and outsprinted his rival.^[6] He finally finished fifth of the Spanish Grand Tour, won by Alberto Contador.^[7] He finished his season in the Italian Autumn classics, placing fourth in Milano–Torino and ninth in the Giro di Lombardia.

In 2015, Aru came in sixth at the Volta a Catalunya. In April, he missed the Giro del Trentino because of an intestinal ailment.^[8] Greg Henderson accused Aru of faking the ailment, and actually skipping due to a pending biological passport case.^[9] Aru promised to sue Henderson for his accusations as he was preparing for the Giro d'Italia.^[10]