Fabio Aru confirmed his potential as a grand tour rider when he virtually secured fifth in the Vuelta a Espana. The Astana rider even tried to win the stage and even though that mission failed, he is proud of his performance.

“The rhythm was really high today on the final climb," Fabio Aru said after stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espana. "The team worked to catch the breakaway and in the end I am really happy with my Vuelta."

Aru finished fifth on Saturday – with only a short individual time trial on Sunday, the 24-year old will by all measure hold on to his fifth overall in General Classification as the race ends.

On Saturday Astana Pro Team went to the front of the peloton to work, pulling for more than 40km to close the gap to the breakaway and to look for any possible improvement and perhaps even a third stage win.