Fabio Aru was a frequent visitor to the peloton last year, having won a stage at the Giro d'Italia and finishing third overall and also winning two stages and finishing fifth at the Vuelta a España. The 24-year-old from Sardinia will make his 2015 racing debut this week at Paris-Nice and enters the WorldTour event after two weeks of intensive training at altitude in Tenerife.

"That's right, I can't wait to savour the taste of the challenge and I am also curious to check on the field at this point [and how they] are preparing," Aru told tuttobiciweb.it. "In recent months I have really worked hard.

"With me there were six teammates. Lars Boom, Diego Rosa, Paolo Tiralongo, Andrey Zeits, Tanel Kangert and Dmitriy Gruzdev," Aru added of who his company has been while training.

Astana have not yet announced their Paris-Nice squad as the team still has to face the UCI License Commission after the governing body's requested the withdrawal of its WorldTour license last week.

Aru will lead Astana at the first grand tour of the season with his pre-race program, which includes Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, "a fortnight in Tenerife, Trentino, perhaps Liège and the Giro." His season, as well as his teammates season, rests upon the decision by the license Commission.