Reports from Italy suggest Dan Martin will be sharing Tour de France team leadership with Italian Fabio Aru. Apparently he will ride the race after a dismal showing at the Giro last month.

Fabio Aru plans to ride Tour de France 2018, reports

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Fabio Aru is set to ride the Tour de France, according to reports in the Italian media.

If  proven correct, it would mean Aru will co-lead the UAE Team  Emirates line-up alongside Dan Martin.

During the off season Martin joined the squad from QuickStep. He did so specifically with the Tour de France in mind.

He had got little or no general classification support at the Tour from his team of the last two seasons.

After Martin signed with UAE Team Emirates news broke that Aru had also joined. But Martin said he did not see a conflict as he would ride the Tour and Aru the Giro.

However, the Italian road race champion was a flop at the Giro. And he abandoned the race in the last week. He was almost three  quarters of an hour down  overall at the time.

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La Gazzetta dello Sport is now reporting that Aru will ride the Tour; effectively in an effort  to repay the team after the Giro.

How he will get on sharing team leadership with Martin, in what is a mainly Italian team, remains to be seen.

The team will also have Alexander Kristoff in the Tour selection seeking stage wins.

Fabio Aru advised to stay away

However, when Dan Martin was at QuickStep virtually the entire team was set up towards leading out Marcel Kittel. The German would win five stages.

Martin was allotted just one domestique last year, and finished 6^th overall.

One man who says Aru would be ill advised to take on the Tour is his former Astana manager Giuseppe Martinelli.

“If I was Fabio or those that manage him, I wouldn’t put the Tour on the schedule,” he said.

“It’s too demanding, too much pressure, even if he doesn’t go there to race for the classification.”

Aru struggled in the Giro and ended the race by packing it in.