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Teams & Riders Fabio Aru discussion thread

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Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Hoping he rides in La Vuelta. Disappointed so far, but then again, he might just come strongly in the end and randomnly get a podium
I agree with you here. And with the posts around yours: Aru is not in great shape, great that he took his shot at the TdF, he may not be ready to face the Sky-machine and the real competitions like Simoni, Astana miracles may happen again...

Hoping he rides the Vuelta too. BTW, is he doing the Olympics too? If so, that's a handicap when you think about preparing and resting for the Vuelta, jet lag, Zika risk...not the best/safest way to save a season. Because that's what we're talking about: so far in '16 he really hasn't done anything.

I'm surprised, because he's one notch above the Bardet, Mollema, TJVG-type of riders. Could he be flying under the radar for as long as possible before unleashing a Vino? Possible...
 
Well, we all know that Aru is rubbish in TTing. We saw it well yesterday. Four bloody minutes! Without those 4 mins he would be very well in contention, meaning that his shape is not that bad. I'm pretty sure he'll go up a few spots in GC during the final week. Probabily he's not strong enough for a podium spot (he is currently 2.30 away from 3rd), but I wouldn't write him off that easily.
 
I don't understand all the criticism of Aru (OK the hair looks pretty stupid) because he's just riding his first Tour. Andy Schleck for instance was 12th in his first TdF (he rode as a domestique I know and a pretty great one up Bonnette) so it's not the end of the world for Aru. If last year's Giro is anything to go by, he'll go balistic in the last mountain stages with Landa finally getting the chance to pull him back :D

I think he will top5 somehow just because he's so consistent and he climbs better than Martin, Van Garderen, Valverde (he has to fade, right?) and possibly Porte if he has his trademark sink the ship bad day. From the guys behind come on, only a lucky break will give minutes to someone like Meintjes, Kreuziger or Barguil.
 
Re:

trevim said:
I don't understand all the criticism of Aru (OK the hair looks pretty stupid) because he's just riding his first Tour. Andy Schleck for instance was 12th in his first TdF (he rode as a domestique I know and a pretty great one up Bonnette) so it's not the end of the world for Aru. If last year's Giro is anything to go by, he'll go balistic in the last mountain stages with Landa finally getting the chance to pull him back :D

I think he will top5 somehow just because he's so consistent and he climbs better than Martin, Van Garderen, Valverde (he has to fade, right?) and possibly Porte if he has his trademark sink the ship bad day. From the guys behind come on, only a lucky break will give minutes to someone like Meintjes, Kreuziger or Barguil.
Andy had not won a GT tho'...I really thought that the best of the rest would be Pinot and Aru. Pinot is sick and gone, Aru is sub-par. He got dropped, he's not what we thought he would be. Mollema beating Aru? I would never have thought that it would be possible. Remotely. Mountains to come, we'll see. But Bardet looks better than him and the big ITT is over with, and Valverde fading...you never know. He looks good.

PS: for the top-5, TJVG is 5th again it seems ;) .
 
Re: Re:

Tonton said:
trevim said:
I don't understand all the criticism of Aru (OK the hair looks pretty stupid) because he's just riding his first Tour. Andy Schleck for instance was 12th in his first TdF (he rode as a domestique I know and a pretty great one up Bonnette) so it's not the end of the world for Aru. If last year's Giro is anything to go by, he'll go balistic in the last mountain stages with Landa finally getting the chance to pull him back :D

I think he will top5 somehow just because he's so consistent and he climbs better than Martin, Van Garderen, Valverde (he has to fade, right?) and possibly Porte if he has his trademark sink the ship bad day. From the guys behind come on, only a lucky break will give minutes to someone like Meintjes, Kreuziger or Barguil.
Andy had not won a GT tho'...I really thought that the best of the rest would be Pinot and Aru. Pinot is sick and gone, Aru is sub-par. He got dropped, he's not what we thought he would be. Mollema beating Aru? I would never have thought that it would be possible. Remotely. Mountains to come, we'll see. But Bardet looks better than him and the big ITT is over with, and Valverde fading...you never know. He looks good.

PS: for the top-5, TJVG is 5th again it seems ;) .
Yeah I also had the same opinion that Aru and Pinot would be really close to Quintana and Contador in terms of climbing ability, based on what I saw from Pinot this year and Aru last season. It turns out that Bardet, Yates and Mollema have been better which is a bit surprising, specially the last two. Still the 3rd week is still to come and I think Aru is more of a 3 week rider than any of the other ones but we'll see :)
 
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Re: Re:

Zinoviev Letter said:
Brullnux said:
Zinoviev Letter said:
IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS THAT ARU HAS NOT ARRIVED INTO THIS TOUR WITH THE VERY BEST FORM HE HAS EVER PRODUCED. It is also quite obvious that the standard of the field is higher than it was in his Vuelta win (big names, but not in peak condition) or in his good Vuelta and Giro placings. Beating Amador and Hesjedal or finishing between Uran and Rolland does not take Tour Podium form.

Are you sure about that ZINOVIEV? When has Aru ever competed evenly with or beaten the best GC riders in the world? Arguably, he hung with the best at the 2014 Vuelta, but that's a stretch. Late in the 2015 Giro, he outdueled an exhausted Contador, but I believe Landa, Aru's own teammate, could have ridden away from Aru at any point, and did before team orders apparently intervened, plus, Aru's team was so much stronger than Contador's.

Until I see otherwise, I believe Aru is a 2nd level GC rider, which is very impressive, but more in the Valverde, Rodriguez, Majka, Chiappucci, Kloden class, but without Kloden's TT brilliance....
 
Re:

SafeBet said:
People underestimate how difficult is the Tour compared to any other race. Aru is learning it right now.
I do believe he'll be among the strongest in the third week but I'm not sure wether it'll be enough to get on the podium.

Have there been riders as strong as he has been in the other two GTs in a single season that couldn't podium the Tour? The ones I know of -- Bertie, Nibali and Rodriguez all followed similar seasons with their best Tour performances. Of course they had all raced the Tour multiple times. Even Froome had raced it once before his breakthrough as a GC favorite.
 

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