Aru ready for Tour de France leadership with Astana in 2016

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Twelve months ago, when the Astana team gathered for its first training camp in Montecatini Terme, in Tuscany, Fabio Aru was still considered a future star of the team and a possible contender for the Giro d'Italia. A year on, with the 25-year-old Sardinian having won the Vuelta a Espana and finished second at the Giro d'Italia, he is now considered a team leader along with Vincenzo Nibali and has been rewarded with even more responsibility and expectation for 2016.

Aru has been given the role of Astana team leader for the Tour de France and the Ardennes Classics, with Nibali forced to accept that he no longer calls all the shots when it comes to the Grand Tours. Alexandre Vinokourov has insisted that Nibali will target the Giro d'Italia and he will then have to play a secondary role to Aru in France in July.