Team Qhubeka ASSOS is thrilled to announce that Fabio Aru, the 2015 Vuelta a Espana champion, will be riding for Africa’s only UCI-registered WorldTour team in 2021.

Aru, 30, has a stellar palmares having finished second and third at the Giro d’Italia, in 2015 and 2014 respectively, and fifth at the Tour de France in 2017.

The Italian is a multiple Grand Tour stage-winner including stage five of the Tour de France in 2017, back-to-back Giro d’Italia stage wins in 2015 as well as doubling up at the Vuelta a Espana in 2014. He took his debut Grand Tour stage victory at the Giro d’Italia in 2014.

He announced himself onto the international scene in some style in 2012, then as a stagiare with Astana, by taking an impressive second place finish on stage six of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. The Sardinian spent six seasons with Astana during which time he returned some very impressive results including a stage win at the Criterium du Dauphine in 2016.

The 2017 Italian champion joined UAE-Team Emirates the following year which is where he joins Team Qhubeka ASSOS from, and during which time he took to the start line of his 13^th career Grand Tour.

Aru’s arrival follows on that from Simon Clarke, Sean Bennett, Dimitri Claeys, Kilian Frankiny, Lukasz Wisniowski, Karel Vacek, Emil Vinjebo, Connor Brown and Harry Tanfield.

Further additions to complete our roster will be made in due course.

Douglas Ryder – Team Principal

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.

Fabio Aru

I am absolutely delighted to be joining Team Qhubeka ASSOS next season and 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.

I’ve also closely observed the work of the Qhubeka Charity and what they do is incredible. Some of my new colleagues have told me of the power and impact that going to a bicycle distribution ceremony has had on them. This has brought home to me the impact that the bicycle has had in my own life and the power it can hold for others. I really look forward to having that opportunity in the future too.

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.

At this point in my career Team Qhubeka ASSOS is the perfect place for me to do so and I’m very grateful for the opportunity that they’ve provided me with to contribute to their legacy and to build on that fantastic work that they’ve done in the past.