Fabio Aru on the path of Vincenzo Nibali

In 2014, “The Shark” of the Messina strait hadn’t won a race until he claimed the Italian title contested in Trentino on a difficult course. He wasn’t a favourite for the Tour de France compared to Chris Froome and Alberto Contador. But he didn’t wait for the two stars to crash and call it a race for taking the lead. From stage 2 onwards, he only let Frenchman Tony Gallopin to wear the yellow jersey for a day.
On Sunday in Ivrea, Piedmont, the winner fell into tears after he secretly raced with a jersey he had exchanged with the late Michele Scarponi during a training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain. “I’ve experienced difficult moments recently but life has taught me to overcome them”, he reacted after his solo victory.
Aru didn’t race much and didn’t get many good results in the early part of this year. Following a nasal septum chirurgic treatment, he finished eighth in the Tour of Oman and third in the Abu Dhabi Tour in February. He pulled out of Tirreno-Adriatico in March due to bronchitis. Moreover, a crash while training in Sierra Nevada cost him a start at the hundredth edition of the Giro d’Italia. On his come back to racing at the Critérium du Dauphiné, he got a similar placing (5th) as Nibali in 2014 (7th). The notable difference is that he contributed to the overall victory of his team-mate Jakob Fuglsang who is supposed to co-lead the Astana team with him at the Tour de France.
Like Nibali in 2014, Aru rides for Astana along with Fuglsang. This is his second participation to the Tour de France after a bitter end last year. He was sixth overall after the penultimate mountain stage but he lost his momentum on the way to Morzine and ended up thirteen overall.
Like Nibali (in 2010), the first Grand Tour he won was the Vuelta a España (in 2015). Following the path of his compatriot who stepped up by winning the 2013 Giro d’Italia (and again in 2016), he targeted the Corsa Rosa starting from his island of Sardinia this year but he had to reshuffle his plan, hence his attempt to win the Tour before the Giro.
In 2014, Nibali was in his thirtieth year. Aru will turn 27 on Monday, on the occasion of stage 3 from Verviers to Longwy since he was born on 3 July 1990, the day Johan Museeuw won a stage at the Mont-Saint-Michel where the Italian took the start of his first Tour de France one year ago.
In 2014, like this year, the first summit on the route of the Tour de France is La Planche des belles filles. Nibali won the stage and took the yellow jersey for good. Questioned on Sunday about the similarities, Aru put the pressure off by answering: “Today (Sunday), Vincenzo also fought hard and honored the Italian championship.” Twelfth in Ivrea, “The Shark” is not riding the Tour this year but Aru is ready to be the next Italian to race for the yellow jersey.
 
Twelve national champions are expected to start the Tour de France in Düsseldorf: Sergio Henao (Col/Sky), Oliver Naesen (Bel/AG2R-La Mondiale), Jesus Herrada (Spa/Movistar), Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana), Arnaud Démare (Fra, FDJ), Ignatas Konovalovas (Lit/FDJ), Marcus Burghardt (Ger/Bora-Hansgrohe), Stephen Cummings (Gbr/Dimension Data), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (Rsa/Dimension Data), Zdenek Stybar (Cze/Quick-Step Floors), Juraj Sagan (Svk/Bora-Hansgrohe), Ramon Sinkeldam (Ned/Sunweb).