Fabio Aru officially signs for Qhubeka-Assos as he looks to reboot his career

The former Vuelta a España winner finally has announced which team he will be joining in the 2021 season

Fabio Aru at the 2020 Tour de France (David Stockman/BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

(Image credit: BELGA MAG/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

>>> Here are eight WorldTour riders forced to step down a level in 2021 during tough contract year

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."

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.