Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Escarabajo]

Re:

He wants to be sole leader at the Giro d'Italia. That's part of the whole issue.

In that case Astana is a good fit.

2 Leaders in a team is not a bad thing. Astana needs another leader. With crashes and illnesses that happen in cycling it is always wise to have at least 2 leaders.

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

This guy is the biggest hypocrite. Blames LottoNL for helping Sky with the pace making yesterday.
What did Movistar do then when Kruijswijk attacked?

Mr. Landa seems to have an awful memory

Well, he has a point actually. It would have made sense if one of the Lotto's would have joined Bardet and Landa on the move, they were with four (!) in the group.

And in the Alpe D'Huez stage they tried to win the stage with Landa, therefore they had a good reason to chase Kruijswijk.

Sky seemed to be quite happy to let people go up the road yesterday, as Froome was on a mediocre day anyway. In fact Sky never chased Landa & Bardet fully. It was Gesink who brought down the gap significantly.

Kruijswijk could've gained a 2nd or 3rd place in the Pyrenees if he had initially joined the move. Instead LottoNL chased the breakaway, won the stage with Roglic, but lost the podium again in today's TT!

Eventually Landa is correct. The check is written after the business has been done.

 

[Moviefan1203]

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

 

[Koronin]

l'equipe translation:

Three years after leaving the Astana team, in 2016, for Sky, before joining Movistar this season, Mikel Landa would once again be on the move. He would have offered his services to his former Kazakh employers, imagining himself as the sole leader on the great Tours. He explained that his relations with Nairo Quintana have deteriorated in recent times and that he does not see himself continuing the adventure at Movistar in these conditions, even if he still has one year of contract.

Here's the interesting part, he's not the only to have major issues with Quintana. Movistar has seen a ton of their top domestiques leaving because they refuse to deal with Quintana anymore. Rumors are at the end of this year Amador, Soler, and Erviti are leaving and part of it is they have had enough of Quintana.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

 

[perico]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Hope he has fun hauling Bernal around. Waste.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Hope he has fun hauling Bernal around. Waste.

I agree, if he goes to Sky he will have no development and no chance to be a leader at all. Hope he likes the paycheck.

 

[Moviefan1203]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Interesting. Surprised Movistar is losing both of their younger GC Spanish riders.

Riders don't like Quintana, eh? I always gave him the benefit of the doubt that his lack of personality was due to the language translation.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Interesting. Surprised Movistar is losing both of their younger GC Spanish riders.

Riders don't like Quintana, eh? I always gave him the benefit of the doubt that his lack of personality was due to the language translation.

You'd think they'd do everything they can to keep their young Spanish GC riders instead of letting them go. The Spanish fans won't stand for non Spaniards leading the team at la Vuelta either. Can they really afford to lose their fan base?
No riders do not like Quintana. Movistar has had just about all their top domestiques leave over the past 3 years and rumors are Amador, Soler, and Erviti are all leaving this year to join the Herrada brothers, Izagirre brothers, Castroviejo, Visconti, and some others. This from a team that in the past had very low turn over and typically riders left because they weren't offered contracts, not because they wanted to leave. Spanish riders bailing, including riders who have been extremely loyal to Valverde over the years shows there are major issues at the team and the issue is not Valverde whom many of these same riders have tried to get to come with them to other teams.

 

[Scarponi]

is this bloke the most toxic pro cyclist today? Has problems everywhere he goes for zero results

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Hope he has fun hauling Bernal around. Waste.

I agree, if he goes to Sky he will have no development and no chance to be a leader at all. Hope he likes the paycheck.

The lad who’s about to wear yellow into Paris tomorrow would disagree with you on every count there. Except the paycheck, maybe.

Thomas’ win is probably the best recruiting ad Sky could have. “See? When we say “the road will decide the leader,” we bloody well mean it.”

 

[cantpedal]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Hope he has fun hauling Bernal around. Waste.

I agree, if he goes to Sky he will have no development and no chance to be a leader at all. Hope he likes the paycheck.

The lad who’s about to wear yellow into Paris tomorrow would disagree with you on every count there. Except the paycheck, maybe.

Thomas’ win is probably the best recruiting ad Sky could have. “See? When we say “the road will decide the leader,” we bloody well mean it.”

um not exactly they backed the wrong horse with Bradley in the 2011 Vuelta and chained Chris to keep him from taking the Tour the next year.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

I guess Movistar is picking Quintana over Landa? Soler should have a bright future as well.

Rumor going around is that Soler is leaving Movistar at the end of year and possibly headed to Sky.

Hope he has fun hauling Bernal around. Waste.

I agree, if he goes to Sky he will have no development and no chance to be a leader at all. Hope he likes the paycheck.

The lad who’s about to wear yellow into Paris tomorrow would disagree with you on every count there. Except the paycheck, maybe.

Thomas’ win is probably the best recruiting ad Sky could have. “See? When we say “the road will decide the leader,” we bloody well mean it.”

Nope, they backed Wiggins in 2011 and did NOT change that even when Froome proved to be stronger. They would NOT allow him to race. It was also very likely they were actually backing Thomas in this Tour and not Froome. If Thomas stays the ONLY two riders they will be backing in GTs are Froome and Thomas. One more thing Thomas is British. Sky backs British riders. We will see if they change that with Bernal or not.

 

[movingtarget]

Soler has Sky domestique written all over him and he also has TT ability. Sky will back Bernal because even Thomas and Froome will drop off performance wise. Where is the next champion Brit ? I think Sky would have eventually given Porte leadership but maybe not at the Tour. If there was anyone with conflicting emotions watching the Tour and Thomas it would have to be Porte.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Soler has Sky domestique written all over him and he also has TT ability. Sky will back Bernal because even Thomas and Froome will drop off performance wise. Where is the next champion Brit ? I think Sky would have eventually given Porte leadership but maybe not at the Tour. If there was anyone with conflicting emotions watching the Tour and Thomas it would have to be Porte.

And NOTHING more. If he stays at Movistar he WILL get a chance to lead a GT team. If he goes to Sky he will NOT there. If all he wants to be is a domestique then sure go to Sky and get the paycheck. If he wants to lead a GT team then Sky is the LAST place he needs to go.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

Nope, they backed Wiggins in 2011 and did NOT change that even when Froome proved to be stronger. They would NOT allow him to race. It was also very likely they were actually backing Thomas in this Tour and not Froome. If Thomas stays the ONLY two riders they will be backing in GTs are Froome and Thomas. One more thing Thomas is British. Sky backs British riders. We will see if they change that with Bernal or not.

1) 7 years ago, they backed against Froome. How did that work out for Froome?
2) If Thomas had crashed on stage 1 instead of Froome, do you really think Thomas would have been the number 1 for Sky?
3) Neither Thomas nor Froome will ride the Giro next year.
4) Yes, Sky backs British riders, Movistar backs Spanish riders, FDJ back French riders, but Bernal at 21 has won a World Tour stage race and been in the number 3 spot of the Sky train in a Tour winning effort.

I'm no Sky fan, but you have to admit, their big selling point right now is "you can accept our offer, and help us win Tours, and one day, if you're lucky, you might be the guy who wins one. Or you can join the other guys and not win Tours."

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Nope, they backed Wiggins in 2011 and did NOT change that even when Froome proved to be stronger. They would NOT allow him to race. It was also very likely they were actually backing Thomas in this Tour and not Froome. If Thomas stays the ONLY two riders they will be backing in GTs are Froome and Thomas. One more thing Thomas is British. Sky backs British riders. We will see if they change that with Bernal or not.

1) 7 years ago, they backed against Froome. How did that work out for Froome?
2) If Thomas had crashed on stage 1 instead of Froome, do you really think Thomas would have been the number 1 for Sky?
3) Neither Thomas nor Froome will ride the Giro next year.
4) Yes, Sky backs British riders, Movistar backs Spanish riders, FDJ back French riders, but Bernal at 21 has won a World Tour stage race and been in the number 3 spot of the Sky train in a Tour winning effort.

I'm no Sky fan, but you have to admit, their big selling point right now is "you can accept our offer, and help us win Tours, and one day, if you're lucky, you might be the guy who wins one. Or you can join the other guys and not win Tours."

Thus telling you join us and you will NEVER be more than just another domestique no matter how good you are. Hope you have NO ambition at all because you will NOT get to lead this team ever. If you want a big paycheck and don't actually care about anything except for money come to Sky. That is what you said boils down to.

Oh and last I check Quintana is Colombian and Carapaz is Ecuadorian. Soler IS Spanish and if he stays at Movistar WILL be a leader there. If he goes to Sky he has a 0% chance of ever leading that team.

By the way Froome is British and Sky is a British team.

 

[dastott]

Landa was co-leader at Sky last year for the Giro. Porte isn't British either. Bernal will be a interesting case.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

Landa was co-leader at Sky last year for the Giro. Porte isn't British either. Bernal will be a interesting case.

Co-leader with Thomas (who last I checked is British).
Porte is Australian and left Sky because of lack of opportunities.
Landa left Sky because he wasn't getting what he was promised when he went there.
Agree that Bernal will be an interesting case. Although he still needs to learn how to do a time trial. He lost over a minute in the ITT today to Valverde who was both not in any kind of half way decent form AND stated that he lost between 30 seconds and a minute on his ITT due to wet road conditions and he wasn't willing to risk anything. (Thus admitting that his crash last year is most definitely effecting his ITTs by actually a LOT of time).

 

[dastott]

This Tour has shown that Sky can do co-leadership and make it work. Porte did get leadership chances at the Giro with Sky, and at the Tour when Froome crashed out.

As for a Soler leadership role, maybe at Giro or Vuelta in a year or two, probably as a co-leader with Bernal or someone else. He would take pressure off Bernal also. Bernal is a better climber than Soler but Soler is a better TTer (I think).

 

[yaco]

So MoviStar may end up with two GC riders if Landa and Soler leave - Could be interesting times ahead.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

This Tour has shown that Sky can do co-leadership and make it work. Porte did get leadership chances at the Giro with Sky, and at the Tour when Froome crashed out.

As for a Soler leadership role, maybe at Giro or Vuelta in a year or two, probably as a co-leader with Bernal or someone else. He would take pressure off Bernal also. Bernal is a better climber than Soler but Soler is a better TTer (I think).

I don't think they will ever give a Soler leadership role. Bernal is younger (I think 3 years) and a better climber. Soler is a better TTer.
Also remember Sky has a young Brit, Teo Geagenheart (don't think I spelled that right) who they are expecting to be their next British star. He's also younger then Soler and a bit better climber.

 

[Koronin]

Re:

So MoviStar may end up with two GC riders if Landa and Soler leave - Could be interesting times ahead.

There are still rumors that Quintana may leave as well. Leaving them very literally with Valverde and nothing else. Not even a half way decent team to support him.

 

[Leinster]

Re: Re:

This Tour has shown that Sky can do co-leadership and make it work. Porte did get leadership chances at the Giro with Sky, and at the Tour when Froome crashed out.

As for a Soler leadership role, maybe at Giro or Vuelta in a year or two, probably as a co-leader with Bernal or someone else. He would take pressure off Bernal also. Bernal is a better climber than Soler but Soler is a better TTer (I think).

I don't think they will ever give a Soler leadership role. Bernal is younger (I think 3 years) and a better climber. Soler is a better TTer.
Also remember Sky has a young Brit, Teo Geagenheart (don't think I spelled that right) who they are expecting to be their next British star. He's also younger then Soler and a bit better climber.

They already had Tao Geoghegan Hart domestiquing for Bernal at the Tour of California.

If they have a 50/50 between 2 riders, Britishness can be a tie-breaker, but if they have a head-and-shoulders better rider, they go with that guy. Hence, for example, the likes of Rowe, Stannard, Doul riding in support of Kwiatkowski in various Italian spring classics, and that goes back to when J-A Flecha and EBH were riding for them.

IF they sign Soler, and IF he's good enough to win Grand Tours, they'll give him his shot somewhere in the season.

 

[dusty red roads]

If Soler leaves he should go elsewhere than Sky. Better Quintana leaves and then everyone stays.