Dan Martin and Fabio Aru will lead the UAE Team Emirates team at the Vuelta a Espana which takes place from August 25 to September 16.
Aru has taken two stage victories in the race and an overall win in 2015 while Martin has won one stage in 2011. The duo will be backed up by an all-around team that include riders for every terrain.
“I really like the Vuelta for many reasons: the route, the climbs and especially the fans who have always shown great affection towards me,” said Aru.
“I approach it with great enthusiasm and a desire to do well, also to repay the affection and support shown to me by the team, the sponsors and the fans since the Giro d’Italia. I arrive from a first part of the season in which I did not get the results I was looking for, but from the defeats, you can learn important lessons and all this gives me great motivation.
“It will be a tactically open Vuelta, the nine summit finishes will lend themselves to attacks. And I must beware of short stages, they will have a big impact on the general classification. The competition is spread wide and level, thinking of (Miguel Angel) Lopez, the Yates brothers, (Rigoberto) Urán and the captains of Movistar. Without forgetting that Nibali is making his race return.”
UAE Team Emirates line-up for the Vuelta: Fabio Aru, Daniel Martin, Valerio Conti, Vegard Stake Laengen, Sven Erik Bystrom, Simone Consonni, Simone Petilli, Edward Ravasi
