It is finally official! Fabio Aru will be riding for Qhubeka-Assos in the 2021 season where he will hope he can reinvigorate his career and start performing well at the Grand Tours.
Aru, who is leaving UAE Team Emirates, has been linked to numerous teams this year with rumours going around that he could have signed for Alpecin-Fenix and ride cyclocross, or even step down to Vini Zabù-Brado-KTM.
But no, it is the rebuilding project that is currently going on at Qhubeka-Assos that managed to get the former Italian champion's signature on the contract.
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Aru, who is now 30, said: "I am absolutely delighted to be joining Team Qhubeka-Assos next season and I'm very grateful to Douglas Ryder who welcomed me to his team,
"When the possibility to sign first came about, and then after speaking with Douglas and other team members, I immediately felt that this was an environment that I wanted to be a part of.
"In the last few years I haven’t experienced all of the success that I’d hoped for and so I will use this new step to draw from some of the simple factors that saw me achieve those results, as I know that I’m capable again of similar success."
Aru's year ended for UAE Team Emirates on stage nine of the Tour de France where he was dropped on a relatively flat stage and left behind with only the broom waggon to keep him company.
With former UAE boss, Giuseppe Saronni saying that Aru has disappointed the team and that he shouldn't even have been at the race in the first place.
Team principal, Douglas Ryder had this to say about the signing: "I am excited to have Fabio join our team; to have a rider who has won a Grand Tour in the Vuelta, been 5th in the Tour de France and twice on the podium of the Giro adds a lot to our teams development as we continue to strive to win on the world’s biggest stage; to inspire hope and create opportunity.
"Fabio’s passion and love for cycling can be seen in the way he races and I think in our unique team we will see him rise again, as I am sure we will get the best out of each other."
