Fabio Aru gave some indications of being a great prospect for grand tour races in the final week of last year’s Giro d’Italia, and even though Michele Scarponi was appointed a Astana leader for this season’s edition of the Italian grand tour, it was his younger countryman to fly the banner of the Kazakh team and live-up to huge expectations earlier than expected.

Aru proved to be the strongest rider on the slopes of Montecampione on Sunday and one of the strongest climbers in the entire race, and even though before the event kicked off the 23-year old Italian wasn’t certain about his own limitations, his latest showing certainly gave him rather positive signals.

For many, the Sardinian-born climber closely resembles his fellow countryman and team-mate Vincenzo Nibali, however, Astana’s trained, Paolo Slongo, brought on board this season following a request of last year’s Giro d’Italia champion suggested that there’s still a room for improvement in order to reach an optimal physical shape.

"At the moment he weighs 61.5kg and he’s 181cm tall. That’s thin but there’s still work to do because he can lose weight from his torso," Slongo told Gazzetta. "His body fat level is just above 6%."

Without questioning the huge potential of the young Italian, it was very difficult to gauge what to expect from Aru in this season’s Giro d’Italia edition, as he clocked only 13 days of racing in his build-up period. Slongo revealed that the rider himself was slightly concerned about such low amount of racing in his programme, but apparently a trust he has given his team paid off.

"One of the problems this spring was convincing him to come to Belfast with only 13 days of racing in his legs," Slongo said. "He wanted to race more, but before leaving for Ireland he did a lot of motor pacing work."

Aru paid for his lack of experience in Barbaresco-Barolo time trial after he didn’t save enough energy for a latter part of the hilly course. However, the 23-year old Italian was one of the best riders at the first time-check situated at the top of the first ascent, and Astana’s trainer suggests that he can be one of the most dominative forces in the second, totally uphill test against the clock to Cimma Grappa.

"The omens are positive because he can do very well in the mountain time trial, his intermediate times from the climb in the Barolo time trial confirm it," he said.

Certainly pleased by his latest performances, Aru remained reluctant about assessing his chances for podium result in the overall classification of the Italian grand tour.

"I’m taking it day by day," he said. "I’m just trying to learn from the people around me.”