This article originally appeared on BikeRadar
Astana's Fabio Aru arrived to the Criterium du Dauphine with his form unknown after nearly three months without a race. The Sardinian, who won the Vuelta a España in 2015, looked to test himself ahead of the Tour de France where he will line up alongside teammate and eventual winner Jakob Fuglsang.
For the Criterium du Dauphine, Canadian frame manufacturer Argon 18 presented Aru with a custom painted Gallium Pro frameset. Dubbed 'metallised red', the distinctive design features mirror silver decals and Aru's name and logo on the top tube.
At last year's edition of the race, the Astana team raced on Specialized bikes and Aru rode a custom painted red and white Specialized Tarmac, paying homage to his Sardinian roots.
This year's bike is a combination of FSA and Shimano drivetrain components, and while the shifting is handled by Shimano Dura-Ace 9000 series components, Aru runs a FSA K-Force Light crankset with 53/39t chain rings.
The Astana team generally runs Shimano Ultegra cassettes and chains to keep overall costs down, and potentially add weight to ensure the bikes meet the minimum 6.8kg limit set by the UCI.
FSA also provides the seat post and cockpit, which is finished with a K-Edge out-front Garmin mount.
Finishing kit also includes a Prologo Nago Evo saddle in Astana team colours and an FSA K-Force Light carbon seat post.
Astana runs Corima wheels and while the team partners with Schwalbe to provide tyres, Aru opts for a set of Specialized S-Works Turbo tubular tyres with the label blacked out with marker pen.