Fabio Aru does not take to the start line for stage 13 of the Vuelta España

The team medical director, Jeroen Swart: “Fabio has clinically recovered from the surgery he had in April. During these months he trained well and data showed his progressions. He arrived at the start of this Vuelta in really good shape, but during this Vuelta he has not been able to achieve the expected performance and has experienced progressive fatigue and muscle damage and hence has made the decision to stop. We will perform routine tests, as we perform regularly, to analyze his training data and perform sub maximal physiological tests to try to gather more information“.

Fabio Aru: “The analyzes carried out with the team’s medical staff showed a strong muscular damage that does not allow me to recover from the efforts. The situation was getting worse, so together with the team’s medical staff it was decided to stop, and carry out further checks. I am sorry to withdraw but, given the situation, it would be unthinkable to be able to continue.”