“After I don’t run anymore, there’s the family.” For the cyclist, many messages of affection
SASSARI. Fabio Aru’s latest effort begins today. The cyclist from Villacidro in fact announced his retirement at the age of 31: «After the Vuelta I don’t run anymore». And the Vuelta has arrived. We start today, from Burgos, with an individual time trial of seven kilometers, and we arrive on 5 September in Santiago de Compostela. Eight mountain stages and two time trials will decide the final winner of the red jersey. It was in Spain that Aru, who now races for the South African Qhubeka, experienced the highest moment of his career by winning the Vuelta in 2015. That triumph, at just 25 years old, seemed the prelude to a dazzling career and instead after the two podiums at the Giro d’Italia (third in 2014, second in 2014), his career got stuck. Last success in 2017 when he won the Italian championship in Ivrea before conquering a splendid stage at the Tour de France and wearing the yellow jersey for two days, finishing fifth in Paris. Then nothing more also due to several physical troubles. And so what were supposed to be his best years slipped away. Last winter he restarted from cyclocross, to regain his enthusiasm, but obviously it was not enough.
From today Fabio Aru has before him the last chapter of his history, once again, at the Vuelta. Cycling lovers will remember him for his victories and for his friendship with another great of Italian cycling, Vincenzo Nibali, with whom he was a teammate at Astana and in the national team. And Nibali himself granted him the honor of arms. “It was a great honor to have you as a companion, a rival, but above all a friend. Enjoy this Vuelta, in any case do not think about getting away with it on the street, the challenge is always open .. Whoever arrives last pays a drink ». Aru’s mother was also moved by her son’s farewell to cycling. “I’m not one who often writes on social media – reads a post -, but today I feel like doing it my son to tell you how much I am, indeed how proud we are of you”. But there is still time to hang up the bike, from today Fabio Aru runs the Vuelta and who knows if there will be no surprises.