Fabio Aru

He helped Nibali win the race overall, finishing 42nd himself.

Fabio Aru (born 3 July 1990) is an Italian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2012 and 2021 for the, and squads.

He hails from San Gavino Monreale in Sardinia, and is known for his climbing ability, which made him a favorite for the Grand Tours.

He is known as "The Knight of the four Moors", a reference to his native island of Sardinia.

He joined the Palazzago team where he won the Giro della Valle d'Aosta in 2011 and 2012.

Also in 2012, he finished second behind American rider Joe Dombrowski in the Baby Giro.

Aru joined during the 2012 season after four years with the Palazzago domestic team in Italy.

In 2013 he finished fourth overall in the Giro del Trentino, also claiming the young rider classification.

He rode his first Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia, in support of team leader Vincenzo Nibali.

In 2014, Aru placed third overall in the Giro d'Italia and fifth in the Vuelta a España.

The following year, he finished second in the Giro d'Italia before taking his only overall Grand Tour win at the Vuelta a España.

In 2014, Aru again rode the Giro d'Italia, with the expectation of supporting former winner Michele Scarponi.

However, Aru proved stronger than his teammate and on Stage 15 took his first professional victory by winning on the summit finish of Montecampione.

Aru went on to finish the Giro in third place overall behind Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Urán, reaching the podium in just his second Grand Tour.

In his next Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España, Aru won the Stage 11 summit finish atop the Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar, attacking the leading group in the final kilometre.

He repeated the feat on Stage 18 finishing at Monte Castrove; he escaped with Chris Froome near the end of the climb and outsprinted his rival.

He finished the race, won by Alberto Contador, in fifth overall.

He finished his season in the Italian Autumn classics, placing fourth in Milano–Torino and ninth in the Giro di Lombardia.

In 2015, Aru came in sixth at the Volta a Catalunya.

In April, he missed the Giro del Trentino because of an intestinal ailment.

Greg Henderson accused Aru of faking the ailment, and actually skipping due to a pending biological passport case.

Aru promised to sue Henderson for his accusations as he was preparing for the Giro d'Italia.

In May 2015, it was announced that Aru's contract with Astana was renewed until the end of 2017.

The Giro d'Italia started off poorly for Aru's Astana team, losing seconds to Alberto Contador and the team.

However, in the first week of racing, Aru attacked Contador in the mountains as he was led by his Astana team, remaining only seconds behind Contador in the general classification battle.

When Contador crashed on stage 13 in a pile-up, Aru crossed the line well in front of Contador, securing the first pink jersey of his career.

However the next day, a 59.3 km individual time trial, hyped as the Giro's determining day, Aru lost 2 and a half minutes to Contador, thus losing the pink jersey.

He lost more time in the Mortirolo stage, but bounced back on Stage 19 to take an emotional solo victory.

On Stage 20 featuring the Colle delle Finestre, Aru won his second consecutive stage, taking two minutes from Contador but failing to take the pink jersey.

Aru returned to racing at the Tour de Pologne and finished in 5th place as he prepared for his next season target, the Vuelta a España.

He performed well in the first week, taking the red leader's jersey after finishing second on stage 11, the Vuelta's queen stage.

He held the lead by a handful of seconds before losing it to Joaquim Rodríguez on stage 16.

On stage 17, a 38 km individual time trial, he was able to perform very well and keep himself within 3 seconds of the winner of the stage and new leader of the Vuelta, Tom Dumoulin.

Over the final days, Aru attacked Dumoulin repeatedly, trying to place himself back in red.

It was not until the penultimate mountain day that Aru succeeded, dropping Dumoulin and advancing himself towards his first Grand Tour win.

During his career, Aru won stages in all three Grand Tours, including a stage at the Tour de France, three stages at the Giro d'Italia and two stages at the Vuelta a España, and won the 2017 Italian National Road Race Championships.

Alongside his stage wins, Aru has also worn the race leader's jersey in all three Grand Tours.

His best finish at the Tour de France came in 2017 where he was 5th.

Aru was born in San Gavino Monreale, Sardinia and was raised in Villacidro.

At the age of 18 he moved to mainland Italy to pursue a cycling career.