Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) is hoping to bounce back from a difficult 2019 in which he faced surgery early in the year for an iliac artery problem and was forced to abandon the Vuelta a España on stage 12 after contracting cytomegalovirus.

The 29-year-old Italian, who won the Vuelta in 2015 and finished second and third in the Giro d'Italia, says he is now injury-free and feeling strong on the bike again.

Aru's main target this year is the Tour de France, where he is expected to ride alongside 21-year-old Slovenian Tadej Pogachar, who recently won the Volta a la Valenciana and finished third overall in three stages at last year's Vuelta.

Aru, who finished 14th in last year's Tour de France, has changed his schedule to give himself a new run in the Grand Boucle, choosing to start the Tour Colombia 2.1 in South America rather than Spain or the Middle East as he once did. He told Cycling News before the start of stage 3 in Pipa on Thursday morning, "I'm going to be riding the Tour Colombia 2.1 in South America.

"This is my first time in Colombia and I discovered a beautiful country and beautiful people who really love cycling and cyclists. The support of the Colombian fans is really important."

"I'm very happy to be here.

After Colombia, Aru will return to Europe to tackle the Tirreno-Adriatico, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Tour de Romandie. It's a very good start to the season," he said, "2,500 meters above sea level and temperatures between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius. I'm going to focus on the Tour de France. It's a good team and we've had a very good start to the season with eight wins already.

UAE Team Emirates is certainly off to a good start, with Pogachar's overall and two stage wins in Valencia and Fernando Gaviria's three wins at the Vuelta a San Juan in January. Rui Costa has a stage win in the Tour of Saudi Arabia, and UAE Team Emirates has two wins in Colombia with Sebastian Morano.

Alou professes to feel strong on the bike and has found joy in training again, but after five months away from racing, he is unsure how his form compares to the rest of the peloton.

"Certainly my training is going well, but I don't know what my condition is like, what my form is like. I'm here to help the team 100% and my teammates Morano and Sergio Henao are in really good shape." I am here to improve my condition."

On the queen stage of the final day, the 182.6 km from Zipaquira, home of Tour de France champion Egan Bernal, to the 3,290-meter summit of Alto del Bergeonm, Al will know how he is doing compared to the rest of the field.

"It will certainly be a tough stage," he said. After 3,000 meters of elevation, it will be difficult for us Europeans to breathe."