There were still seven riders left to finish, but when Fabio Aru crossed the finish line in Megève, Astana directeur sportif Stefano Zanini knew already that his rider had posted one of the afternoon's best performances in Thursday's stage 18 time trial at the Tour de France.
Zanini had been following Vincenzo Nibali during the 17-kilometre test, but lingered beyond the finish area to wait for the Aru's arrival, and leant excitedly over the barriers to pass on his congratulations when the Sardinian soft-pedalled past.
At that point, Aru's was the second quickest time of the day, just 12 seconds behind Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), and of the seven riders who followed him home, only stage winner Chris Froome (Sky) would post a faster time.
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"I was hoping to do well and I gave everything I had, right from the first kilometres," Aru told a group of reporters as UCI inspectors weighed his bike past the finish line. "We'll have to wait for the last riders, but I'm happy, dai."
Aru's performance in the predominantly uphill test was a marked improvement on his disappointing outing in the Ardèche time trial a week ago, and was arguably the finest showing against the watch of his career to date.
After opting to eschew a time trial bike, it was perhaps to be anticipated that Aru would show up well on the steep Côte de Domancy, and he clocked the 7th best time at the 6.5-kilometre mark. Yet as the gradient relaxed, Aru began to exceed expectation. He reached the 13.5-kilometre point with the fourth best time, 29 seconds down on Dumoulin, and he maintained his brisk tempo on the drop to Megève.
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