Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Sciocco]

Re: Re:

Ugh, enough with the freaking Sky GT lists, it's January!!! It's freaking ridiculous how caught up Sky fans get with knowing every rider who could potentially be riding in a GT. Why not wait for the spring to play itself out and see who has the form, who gets injured, etc...who the hell knows what's going to happen 5-7 months from now?

Can we just make a damn SKY GT roster speculation thread and you guys can sub riders in and out daily or weekly til your heart's content?

It's never too early to start contemplating Sky's 2019 TdF roster.

Yates (GC)
Yates (plan b)
Froomey (road captain)
Top 15 climber in the world
Top 15 climber in the world
Top 15 climber in the world
Top 15 climber in the world
Stronk man for flat

***GTs will be 8 riders by 2019***

 

[jaylew]

Sorry, that was probably unnecessary. I've had a bad week and a really bad day. Combine that with not having anything to eat or drink in almost 24 hours and I was in a weird state. I guess I just don't get the constant fascination with trying to figure out potential Sky GT rosters months before the races, but to each his own.

 

[Sciocco]

Re:

Sorry, that was probably unnecessary. I've had a bad week and a really bad day. Combine that with not having anything to eat or drink in almost 24 hours and I was in a weird state. I guess I just don't get the constant fascination with trying to figure out potential Sky GT rosters months before the races, but to each his own.

I thought it was funny, as is the consistent Sky GT roster speculation.

 

[Amsterdam]

Hopefully he´ll ride La Vuelta. I a recent interview he said he would like to go to Rio, but the Spanish coach will only select riders who´ll do the Tour.

 

[mikelarriola]

Re:

Hopefully he´ll ride La Vuelta. I a recent interview he said he would like to go to Rio, but the Spanish coach will only select riders who´ll do the Tour.

Have a look to the flag that appear in Landa´s Maillot. Is Spanish, he wants Basque country flag but... the coach is a bit silly and if you have Basque flag yo are no allowed to race with the selection

Yes, he said that.. but you think that if Mikel climbs like the Giro 2015... Minguez would´t call him? If MIkel climbs fast he will go to RIo... that is logical

 

[magnolia]

In my opinion, If Land does a good performance in Italy, he will be at the Olymplic Games, no matter if he goes to the Tour or not.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

I just hope Sky dont turn Landa into a boring rider, i love to see him attack from far out. Not many of these riders left today.

I'm pretty sure they won't. With his poor time trialing ability the only way he'll win the Giro is by being extremely aggressive. The good thing is he's already been on the podium so there will be none of this ''riding for my podium place nonsense'' from Landa. You can also tell in interviews with him that he is only interested in winning.

Some interesting comments from his recent interview with AS:

'Do you know your teammates for the Giro?

There's a group of ten or fifteen riders and then, depending on how they are with each other, as the dates approach, the final selection will be made.

-Can you give some names with which you have worked and with which, in theory, go to the Giro?

David Lopez, Beñat Intxausti, Knees, Kennaugh, Boswell, Deignan, König and some more.

-Can You confirm your final schedule until the Giro d'Italia?

I'll start in the Tour of Valencia and will then ride Tirreno-Adriatico, Basque Country and Giro del Trentino.

No Catalunya then. Some interesting names mentioned for the Giro although he mentions between 10 and 15 riders are under consideration so not all of those he named will be in the team. Sergio Henao wasn't at the recent training camp so he was unable to work with him there. Kiryienka, Viviani and Puccio are all quite likely to be selected I would have thought. Konig as back-up GC rider makes sense given the time trials. I think Sergio Henao would be a good fit to help Landa in the mountains (together with Intxausti). He's an explosive, punchy climber, not someone for a long grinding train and also should be very useful on the high altitude climbs of which there are many in this year's Giro. Kennaugh is quite a punchy climber too although obviously not as good as Sergio.

So the Sky Grand Tour squads are looking something like this I reckon:

Current Giro long list (13):

Landa
Konig
Sergio Henao
Intxausti
Kennaugh
Boswell
Lopez
Deignan
Kiryienka
Zandio
Knees
Puccio
Viviani

Current Tour long list (9):

Froome
Thomas
Nieve
Poels
Kwiatkowski
Roche
Golas
Rowe
Stannard

Riders very unlikely to be considered for either the Giro or Tour: Swift, Van Poppel, Fenn, Peters, Moscon, Nordhaug and Seb Henao.

Seb Henao said in a recent interview that he will ride the Vuelta this year and not the Giro.

Ugh, enough with the freaking Sky GT lists, it's January!!! It's freaking ridiculous how caught up Sky fans get with knowing every rider who could potentially be riding in a GT. Why not wait for the spring to play itself out and see who has the form, who gets injured, etc...who the hell knows what's going to happen 5-7 months from now?

Can we just make a damn SKY GT roster speculation thread and you guys can sub riders in and out daily or weekly til your heart's content?

This is a Landa thread and he just specifically stated in an interview the riders who are in his group for the Giro. It is therefore entirely reasonable to make a post about his team for the Giro.

 

[JRanton]

Re: Re:

Sorry, that was probably unnecessary. I've had a bad week and a really bad day. Combine that with not having anything to eat or drink in almost 24 hours and I was in a weird state. I guess I just don't get the constant fascination with trying to figure out potential Sky GT rosters months before the races, but to each his own.

I thought it was funny, as is the consistent Sky GT roster speculation.

Yeah, it's hilarious.

 

[HelloDolly]

SKY and Murdoch's only ambition is to win the Tour (and prob the Tour of California) . Landa will be at the Tour ..He will be needed if only for about 3 days or so as Nieve & Poels are good but inconsistent and I am not sure yet about Thomas

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

Hey mikel do you know taxus?

Yeah, he is my friend. A very nice man

We know each other long ago. He knows Landa much better than me. He even has raced againts him.

Thanks Mikel.

 

[jaylew]

Re: Re:

I just hope Sky dont turn Landa into a boring rider, i love to see him attack from far out. Not many of these riders left today.

I'm pretty sure they won't. With his poor time trialing ability the only way he'll win the Giro is by being extremely aggressive. The good thing is he's already been on the podium so there will be none of this ''riding for my podium place nonsense'' from Landa. You can also tell in interviews with him that he is only interested in winning.

Some interesting comments from his recent interview with AS:

'Do you know your teammates for the Giro?

There's a group of ten or fifteen riders and then, depending on how they are with each other, as the dates approach, the final selection will be made.

-Can you give some names with which you have worked and with which, in theory, go to the Giro?

David Lopez, Beñat Intxausti, Knees, Kennaugh, Boswell, Deignan, König and some more.

-Can You confirm your final schedule until the Giro d'Italia?

I'll start in the Tour of Valencia and will then ride Tirreno-Adriatico, Basque Country and Giro del Trentino.

No Catalunya then. Some interesting names mentioned for the Giro although he mentions between 10 and 15 riders are under consideration so not all of those he named will be in the team. Sergio Henao wasn't at the recent training camp so he was unable to work with him there. Kiryienka, Viviani and Puccio are all quite likely to be selected I would have thought. Konig as back-up GC rider makes sense given the time trials. I think Sergio Henao would be a good fit to help Landa in the mountains (together with Intxausti). He's an explosive, punchy climber, not someone for a long grinding train and also should be very useful on the high altitude climbs of which there are many in this year's Giro. Kennaugh is quite a punchy climber too although obviously not as good as Sergio.

So the Sky Grand Tour squads are looking something like this I reckon:

Current Giro long list (13):

Landa
Konig
Sergio Henao
Intxausti
Kennaugh
Boswell
Lopez
Deignan
Kiryienka
Zandio
Knees
Puccio
Viviani

Current Tour long list (9):

Froome
Thomas
Nieve
Poels
Kwiatkowski
Roche
Golas
Rowe
Stannard

Riders very unlikely to be considered for either the Giro or Tour: Swift, Van Poppel, Fenn, Peters, Moscon, Nordhaug and Seb Henao.

Seb Henao said in a recent interview that he will ride the Vuelta this year and not the Giro.

Ugh, enough with the freaking Sky GT lists, it's January!!! It's freaking ridiculous how caught up Sky fans get with knowing every rider who could potentially be riding in a GT. Why not wait for the spring to play itself out and see who has the form, who gets injured, etc...who the hell knows what's going to happen 5-7 months from now?

Can we just make a damn SKY GT roster speculation thread and you guys can sub riders in and out daily or weekly til your heart's content?

This is a Landa thread and he just specifically stated in an interview the riders who are in his group for the Giro. It is therefore entirely reasonable to make a post about his team for the Giro.

I totally understand that and probably wouldn't have said anything if you hadn't included the Tour list.

 

[markene2]

Re: Re:

Hey mikel do you know taxus?

Yeah, he is my friend. A very nice man

We know each other long ago. He knows Landa much better than me. He even has raced againts him.

Thanks Mikel.

Is it by any chance Mikel Astarloza?

 

[staubsauger]

Re: Re:

Hey mikel do you know taxus?

Yeah, he is my friend. A very nice man

We know each other long ago. He knows Landa much better than me. He even has raced againts him.

Thanks Mikel.

Is it by any chance Mikel Astarloza?

I guess Mikel Arriola just might be his true name. Although he certainly ain't gonna be the Mexican politician of course.

 

[Taxus4a]

He is not Mikel Astarloza. He is young, His name is similar to Mikel Arriola. In fact, I put a picture of him and Landa in this threat.

 

[KyoGrey]

Getting to know Mikel Landa (trying to speak in english )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqracnH7Nhg

 

[MatParker117]

Getting to grips with TT'ing already:

“Last year I wasn’t training at this moment in January, but this year yes, I’m training with the time trial bike,” said the 26-year-old. “I was working hard in December, finding a position on the track, [and] now we’re training once or twice a week, in order to lose as little [time] as possible.

“I’m feeling more comfortable already, I feel fast. I need to do a competition to see the results, but I feel more confortable, so I think at the moment it’s enough.”

The opening TT in Valencia should provide him a good yardstick with LuLu and Cataldo there.

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Getting to grips with TT'ing already:

“Last year I wasn’t training at this moment in January, but this year yes, I’m training with the time trial bike,” said the 26-year-old. “I was working hard in December, finding a position on the track, [and] now we’re training once or twice a week, in order to lose as little [time] as possible.

“I’m feeling more comfortable already, I feel fast. I need to do a competition to see the results, but I feel more confortable, so I think at the moment it’s enough.”

The opening TT in Valencia should provide him a good yardstick with LuLu and Cataldo there.

And it's not a pancake flat TT. Don't know about the climb, but it looks like a nice hill with a dangerously steep downhill section.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Looks like 2k at 5%

 

[JRanton]

He's not racing Andalucia either. All a bit odd but then I guess he didn't start last season until Catalunya and that worked out ok.

EDIT - He has posted on Twitter that he's ill. That explains it then.

 

[HelloDolly]

He's not racing Andalucia either. All a bit odd but then I guess he didn't start last season until Catalunya and that worked out ok.

EDIT - He has posted on Twitter that he's ill. That explains it then.

Maybe he tried to lose too much weight ?? where riders can be prone to illness

 

[staubsauger]

He's not racing Andalucia either. All a bit odd but then I guess he didn't start last season until Catalunya and that worked out ok.

EDIT - He has posted on Twitter that he's ill. That explains it then.

Maybe he tried to lose too much weight ?? where riders can be prone to illness

***! This ain't no good.

 

[jens_attacks]

Nah he didn't look skinny in any pic i've seen
If he rides in march, all good for il giro
No panic

 

[Taxus4a]

Lot of people are sick these days in Spain, as me. The weather change has been strong. Hop to see him healthy as soon as possible.

 

[staubsauger]

Eventually this turns out to be pretty good after all. He ain't likely to be in giant shape at T-A now anyway. So there's a high chance both he and Aru really give away a little early peak for Basque Country to prove a point. Plus Contador, plus Quintana.

 

[zoolander]

Re:

Lots of people are sick these days in Spain, the flu is hitting very hard.