UAE Team Emirates has confirmed that Fabio Aru will focus on the Giro d’Italia, rather than the Tour de France, while Fernando Gaviria will fight for victories at both Grand Tours.
This will be the fifth time that Aru starts in the Giro d’Italia, a race in which he finished in the third position in 2014 and in the second in 2015. In 2018, Aru retired from the Corsa Rosa at the 19th stage after poor results in the mountains.
“The idea of starting in the Giro d’Italia always hugely motivates me given I’m a climber and there’s that extra bit of emotion added given I’m Italian,” said Aru. “You can imagine my desire to reap some rewards on the road during this Corsa Rosa, rewards that I wasn’t able to enjoy in the last edition. I have a desire to repay the sponsors, fans and organisers who continued to believe in me in these last months.
“The Giro’s route offers plenty of serious climbs to balance with the number of kilometres in the time trials. We will arrive prepared physically and technically in order to confront every detail of the race in the best way possible.”
Aru will race at the Volta ao Algarve in February and the Volta a Catalunya in March before heading to Colorado to train at altitude in April.
Other stars confirmed at the start of the 2019 Giro d’Italia include 2017 winner Tom Dumoulin, Simon Yates, Vincenzo Nibali, Mikel Landa, Richard Carapaz, Alejandro Valverde, Miguel Angel López, Primoz Roglic, Bauke Mollema, Egan Bernal, Domenico Pozzovivo, Bob Jungels, Ilnur Zakarin, Ion Izagirre, Ivan Sosa, Esteban Chaves and Elia Viviani.
