A future GT for the Italian talent?

2012 was a special season for Fabio Aru. The first half saw the end of his U23 career, and the second the beginning of his professional career with Astana. Aru began the year by winning the Toscana - Coppa delle Nazioni Nations Cup race overall over Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol) and Francesco Manuel Bongiorno (Bardiani). Aru followed it up with his 2nd overall to Dombrowski (Sky) at the Baby Giro. Aru capped off his U23 career with an impressive overall win at the Giro Ciclisto della Valle d'Aosta, taking the GC by an impressive 3'25”.

Aru’s 2013 season was not as stellar (although he did collect more WorldTour points), and in an interview with Cyclingnews he remembers his battles during the Giro.

"I was ill halfway through the Giro with vomiting and dysentery, [Paolo] Tiralongo had the same problem. For three days I was feeling pretty bad but then I managed to recover and I finished the Giro strongly," Aru stated. "For me it was important to finish the Giro on a high note, mainly to help Vincenzo in the final stages, but it was nice to be up there myself on that stage too."

Due to his stage race accomplishments as an amateur Aru has already been hailed as a future Grand Tour contender, and his reins might be loosened a bit during the coming season.

"Scarponi will be the captain, and my job will be to stay close to him, but the team has put a lot of trust in me and I'll have some space myself so I'm tranquillo," Aru said to Cyclingnews. "The important thing now is to learn and to help others on the team, and then later on I might be able to play my own cards in races.

"Right now, I just want to keep improving. Of course I'd like to go and win the biggest races in the future, but every rider wants to do that. I'm focused more on growing and improving."

Aru acknowledged that the jump from amateur to professional can be difficult, and that the gap between the U23 and WorldTour riders is huge.

"Everything changes because you go at higher speed and the races are longer. The rhythm is completely different too and you're racing against guys who are ten years older than you, guys with more experience and strength," he said. "But if you work hard and seriously, then you can at least manage to lessen the shock of that transition to [WorldTour.]"

How far will Aru be able to go? His talent is obvious, but he does possess some disadvantages that will make a Grand Tour victory difficult. Amongst others his time trialing abilities, but he also has an itchy finger, and may fire off a series of early attacks that often end without results.There is also the question of Astana being the best place for Aru to develop. While the team has become nearly half Italian under Guiseppe Martinelli, there have not been many cases of young talents developmening on the team. Nonetheless, Grand Tours such as the Giro or Vuelta, where there is often fewer time trialing km, and more uphill finishes, could suit the young Italian “scalatore” well.