Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Taxus4a]

Landa must reset his mind and seek new objectives, to retake control of his career and his damaged reputation.

As people here say, ride in Switzerland, go to the Tour as second leader and try to convince Minguez to send him to Rio de Janeiro.

Damaged reputation?

Why??

He is a good person, he even try to follow when he was sick, he has helped his team mates and gave up Aru a second in il Giro and a victory in la Vuelta...why you say he has a bad reputation?

For me, of course, and for a lotof people he has a very good one.

I understand if people as Pirazzi o Voeckler has a bad reputation, but Landa??

I remember those times where Pantani, Gotti and Belli didnt heard his directors and went on his way on Mortirolo when his leaders were Chiapucci, Bugno,... Maybe is better to be less polite and to look more for himself.

But Landa?? he even won a stage in Pais Vasco when he was out of shape, he is a rider to love.

Who has good reputation here, a proven liar as Contador or who? I dont min about that kind of reputation.

 

[yaco]

Re: Re:

Imagine a Tour team with Landa, Henao, Gthomas, Wout Poels, Froome, ect... Holy crap!

Whats the difference. Landa replaces LRP and Sky will still be in pieces like they were in last years tour going in to the last week and a half . If Froome never had Thomas to hang onto he would have lost with more than a week to go. This team like any team will make no effect against the likes of Bertie and Quintana going into the last week.
Bertie ,Quintana just follow Froome simple. Astana will be the strongest team they will rip the tour apart. Aru
will attack at every opportunity and will cause everyone problems with the exception of a 100% bertie.
Froome, Quintana will not be able to cope on a "daily basis"
We have seen this all before about how great a team looks. Well its about how great they ride their bike over 3 weeks and none of the Sky riders last 3 weeks including froome. They all fade away.

Pretty sure it was Poels not Thomas who saved Froome last year. Point taken though

It was Poels and Porte - Wouldn't be cycling news without a few wrong facts.

 

[jens_attacks]

Damn seen thr pics with him this morning when he left. You could see his eyes that he cried a lot.

Aupa mikel, i hope can do something nice this season.

 

[SlickMongoose]

Re: Re:

Pretty sure it was Poels not Thomas who saved Froome last year. Point taken though

It was Poels and Porte - Wouldn't be cycling news without a few wrong facts.

Stannard and Thomas got him across the gap in the stage 2 crosswinds, Rowe, Thomas & Stannard kept him safe on the cobbles, Porte and Thomas smashed the field to pieces up PSM, Thomas prevented attacks on Plateau de Beille, Poels was strong in stage 19 when Thomas cracked, and Poels and Porte saved the day on Alpe d'Huez.

All in all, the tour in 2015 really showed the benefit of a strong team, where it's not a disaster if someone has a bad day because someone else steps up, and riders can peak at different times.

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

Damn seen thr pics with him this morning when he left. You could see his eyes that he cried a lot.

Aupa mikel, i hope can do something nice this season.

How about in Saint Gervais Mont Blanc?

 

[Angliru]

Re: Re:

All eyes on the Vuelta.
Should be the major favorite there.

like he was for the giro Its LRP all over again. Landa is not good enough to win GT. Never will be.
I

That's such a load of crap, Landa would have beaten Aru if he wasn't so loyal, he climbs better than anyone with the exception of Mr Quintana, Landa will win a GT and probably several, he's far better that any GT contender outside of the big 3 simple as, He has proven time and time again that his climbing will win GTs like Pantani's did

seriously . He got dropped the other day by Nibs and co who are not exactly the best climbers i.e Bertie ,froome etc and he was lucky to get back on. Landa was a domestic for Astana because that's what he his best at. Aru has already won a GT . Landa was a mountain top ahead of Bertie last year and he caught them all up .
If he was that good Bertie would never have caught him up " a whole mountain "
Comparing him to Pantani you are dreaming and have no idea about cycling , go ride a bike and get some education.

The fact that he has a Giro podium as a support rider for Aru, along with his age should qualify him as a potential
grand tour winner. I'm not saying he will definitely win one but to say he will never win one is not giving him the respect that he deserves.

 

[Taxus4a]

Of course Mikel would like to go Swiss and le Tour to help Frome, but this is SKy, no Euskaltel, you dont choose those things, everything is well planified before, and teams have to put another rider out...

The fact that Kenaugh broke his collarbone, IMO, open the door of le Tour to him, but Kenaugh is a key man for the team and he has time to recover.

 

[ray j willings]

"Pretty sure it was Poels not Thomas who saved Froome last year. Point taken though"
I'm talking about the stages in the last week and a half . Froome was towed around by Thomas and on more than one occasion when Thomas wanted to chase down attacks Froome told him not to has he could not follow .

 

[Taxus4a]

Thomas di a great job in the first week. it was amazing how he was in Pyrinees. Everybody pays that work. He was the stronger of the first half of le Tour. Later no, just some moments.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

Landa is a climber for the high mountains, not the ones we saw so far. He was with Nibali as far as I know all the days in this Giro.. when he was dropped?

I would like to see Landa losing time every day, That woudl have been great for the Giro at the end... but I dont say that becoue a rider lost time one day he is not good, that is stupid.

Do you know who was Fuente (Tarangu?), do you even know who was Perico, I grow up watching mi idol Pedron Delgado, as a lot of people here in Spain and he droped one day and he attacked another...

Aru has a GT becoue Landa helped him to drop Dumoulin, other way no.

Aru is a good rider, with luck in his palmarés so far... but not a magical rider as Landa. Maybe Aru even will get more titles, but always they were ok in a big mountains stages Landa will beat him, becouse is better.

Aru is gratefull with Landa by his help and Landa ha a good relation with hi, so I dont understand you point...

 

[MortiroloForever]

One thing is true: Landa's proffesional career is a roller coaster. He is over the moon when everything goes right or he drowns down to the hell when things don't come easy.

In my opinion he is in a situation where he may focus entirely on his proffesional career. I don't think he has the "winner character" that Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali or Chris Froome have. He is an "artista" as we say in Spanish, a rider capable of the best who hardly can to maintain the concentration on a 3 weeks race. He always has a bad day.

Looking at him and comparing to Contador, for instance, Landa looks like a guy who doesn't pay attention to small details. Contador and, in general, the biggest general classification contenders in the bunch have everything under control and, when they are in the most important goal of their season, don't waste their time doing funny videos or making jokes on social media channels.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

One thing is true: Landa's proffesional career is a roller coaster. He is over the moon when everything goes right or he drowns down to the hell when things don't come easy.

In my opinion he is in a situation where he may focus entirely on his proffesional career. I don't think he has the "winner character" that Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali or Chris Froome have. He is an "artista" as we say in Spanish, a rider capable of the best who hardly can to maintain the concentration on a 3 weeks race. He always has a bad day.

Looking at him and comparing to Contador, for instance, Landa looks like a guy who doesn't pay attention to small details. Contador and, in general, the biggest general classification contenders in the bunch have everything under control and, when they are in the most important goal of their season, don't waste their time doing funny videos or making jokes on social media channels.

He is an artista but he is very profesional and he keep very well concetration. He demand too much to himself sometimes. He tend more than average of riders to have heath problems, but it is not a problem winner character nor profesionality. He has everything uner control, he is "algo maniatico" for that, if he did that ITT above his capacity was becoue that.

He just had a heath problem, something normal in life...there is nothing to say...it is a pity, becouse he was to win easy this race...but he will see his potential again this year.

 

[Hgriffiths2606]

Re: Re:

All eyes on the Vuelta.
Should be the major favorite there.

like he was for the giro Its LRP all over again. Landa is not good enough to win GT. Never will be.
I

That's such a load of crap, Landa would have beaten Aru if he wasn't so loyal, he climbs better than anyone with the exception of Mr Quintana, Landa will win a GT and probably several, he's far better that any GT contender outside of the big 3 simple as, He has proven time and time again that his climbing will win GTs like Pantani's did

seriously . He got dropped the other day by Nibs and co who are not exactly the best climbers i.e Bertie ,froome etc and he was lucky to get back on. Landa was a domestic for Astana because that's what he his best at. Aru has already won a GT . Landa was a mountain top ahead of Bertie last year and he caught them all up .
If he was that good Bertie would never have caught him up " a whole mountain "
Comparing him to Pantani you are dreaming and have no idea about cycling , go ride a bike and get some education.

The fact that he has a Giro podium as a support rider for Aru, along with his age should qualify him as a potential
grand tour winner. I'm not saying he will definitely win one but to say he will never win one is not giving him the respect that he deserves.

I do ride my bike a lot and very much enjoy it, cycling is my favourite sport I follow it religiously, I wasn't directly comparing their styles, how prolific they were I was just saying that he has the ability to win GTs like Pantani and how can we talk about Pantani as a great we all know what he was doing, the only reason that he's not got the reputation that Lance has is because he wasn't a bully and the Italians still love him

 

[portugal11]

Landa is a very good climber but he lacks something that top riders have. I think he should do la vuelta and trying to win it. For now, contador and quintana are superior climbers and he won't help froome a lot

 

[SafeBet]

Re: Re:

Aru has a GT becoue Landa helped him to drop Dumoulin, other way no.

This argument is total nonsense. All GT winners are helped by teammates.

Plus, being healthy is a key part of being a top pro athlete. Check the riders who have won multiple GTs in the past ten years. They rarely quit a GT because of sickness. Contador and Nibali have actually never quit a GT because of sickness.

Landa might be a bigger raw talent than Aru (which is debatable anyway), but that isn't the only thing to consider when comparing two riders. Aru is mentally and phisycally much stronger than Landa. The history of sport oozes athletes who were tremendous talents and never managed to win anything.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Landa is a very good climber but he lacks something that top riders have. I think he should do la vuelta and trying to win it. For now, contador and quintana are superior climbers and he won't help froome a lot

I disagree that he won't help Froome a lot, of course he will be little assistance in the flatter and hilly stages, but when we get to the high mountains he will be a real asset. There aren't many climbers better than him on the high mountain passes.

 

[dacooley]

you have to understand the nature of an average forum supporter. if one states quintana and bertie are so much superior that landa won't help froome to win, it means one really fears froome.

 

[Hgriffiths2606]

Re: Re:

Aru has a GT becoue Landa helped him to drop Dumoulin, other way no.

This argument is total nonsense. All GT winners are helped by teammates.

Plus, being healthy is a key part of being a top pro athlete. Check the riders who have won multiple GTs in the past ten years. They rarely quit a GT because of sickness. Contador and Nibali have actually never quit a GT because of sickness.

Landa might be a bigger raw talent than Aru (which is debatable anyway), but that isn't the only thing to consider when comparing two riders. Aru is mentally and phisycally much stronger than Landa. The history of sport oozes athletes who were tremendous talents and never managed to win anything.

That isn't True, Aru frequently gets I'll and sulks when he gets dropped in one week races, he was very lucky to win La Vuelta and it was clear that Landa was far better at il Giro and Landa got caught behind a crash at the Vuelta and was arguably stronger so I think your argument has a nonsense element to it

 

[Oliwright]

Landa will challenge in GTs for years, assuming no career defining injuries.
His character has been praised a lot by Sky.

He'll go to the TDF, since Froome wants leadership at the Vuelta.
Then Thomas and Landa will be super domestics for him.

With both potentially going to the giro next year as leaders.

 

[MatParker117]

Off to the Dauphine.

 

[HelloDolly]

Landa will challenge in GTs for years, assuming no career defining injuries.
His character has been praised a lot by Sky.

He'll go to the TDF, since Froome wants leadership at the Vuelta.
Then Thomas and Landa will be super domestics for him.

With both potentially going to the giro next year as leaders.

I don't know where you get your info from but as before its out

Thomas will ride as protected rider at the Tour ....
Froome has not said he will ride Vuelta ...he will consider it ....but if tired after Tour & Olympics and if he is Tour Champion I think he won't

Landa should go to the Tour ...can still ride Vuelta
Possible Landa could win stages at the Tour in final week and even be replacement for Froome if anything happens

Thomas has expressed no interest whatsoever in riding the Giro

maybe wait for Landa towin one GT before predicting what he will do for years....

 

[Valv.Piti]

This Giro was truly up for grabs. Really, really gutted for Landa.. and Landa riding for Froome doesn't necessarily make the Tour better either.

What do you think about Suisse - is it possible or better Tour + Vuelta?

 

[MatParker117]

Re:

This Giro was truly up for grabs. Really, really gutted for Landa.. and Landa riding for Froome doesn't necessarily make the Tour better either.

What do you think about Suisse - is it possible or better Tour + Vuelta?

Riding for Froome in the Dauphine.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

This Giro was truly up for grabs. Really, really gutted for Landa.. and Landa riding for Froome doesn't necessarily make the Tour better either.

What do you think about Suisse - is it possible or better Tour + Vuelta?

Riding for Froome in the Dauphine.

Seriously? Damn. Suisse would be so much better....

 

[Matteo.]

He looked in a good shape today. I fear he'll be very good for the Tour and it'll be a shame see him as servant of Froome