Astana leader Fabio Aru has spoken to the media to discuss various things, such as the Giro route, the opening team time trial, his fitness after an illness and the fact that his Astana team has kept its WorldTour licence.

Speaking on the licence situation, the young Italian says that he never cast a thought to the case, and preferred to stay focussed on what he was doing on the bike.

“We’ve got our licence. I preferred to focus on my training and keep working hard, like everyone in the team is doing. That’s what we’re paid to do. We’re going to stay focused on cycling.”

His recent illness prevented him from starting the Giro del Trentino, meaning his last race before the Giro was almost two months ago, at the Volta a Catalunya.

“I’d hoped to ride the Giro del Trentino to test my form but my stomach virus stopped that. Illness is part of our sport. I’ve worked hard though during my spell at altitude, we did an intense week of training. We’re motivated even if there are some serious rivals at the Giro. Alberto is motivated to do well, Uran will be a hard man to beat with the long time trial and there’s Richie Porte too. But we’re ready. My team is strong, I saw that watching them from the sofa as they raced in Trentino.”

He also spoke on the Giro route for 2015 and also went into some details for this afternoon’s team time trial.

“I think it’s a pretty hard Giro right from the start with the third stage especially tough. It could cause some problems. Straight after we’ve also got the first mountain finish at Abetone,” he explained.

As for the opening stage: “There are a few slight curves and the surface dips and rolls a little but it’s a pretty straightforward, fast course,” he said during the press conference. “We’ll look at it again on Saturday morning to get a better idea. We’re not time trial experts but I’m confident we can do pretty well.”