Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Ataraxus]

Re: Re:

People blaming SKY team are ignoring what Landa said himself...he did not have a good day ...no team can ride for a rider on a bad day

As for Scarponi helping SKY back on....well there was 8 km to go and alot downhill ...Landa would have gotten back ...As can be seen by the footage Roche pulled him back without Scarponi

The question is was it a blip for Landa and he will be ok or was it something else

Roche pulled him back but Scarponi created the elastic. Had Scarponi stopped, a 50meter gap would have been opened immediately between the first eight and the rest.
I believe Landa would have gotten back anyways, not because of Roche, but because of potential alliances with Zakarin, Firsanov and the others in that group.

No in the case Nibali and Valverde work.

Sorry Taxus. Your choice of words made it impossible for me to follow.

 

[therealthing]

Better today: Sky were at the front more and he was actually quite high up on the stage.

 

[Matteo.]

Better today: Sky were at the front more and he was actually quite high up on the stage.

Yes. The entire team looked better , we'll see tomorrow if he could manage a top 5

 

[TMP402]

Better today: Sky were at the front more and he was actually quite high up on the stage.

Though it's worth pointing out that he lost seconds to Valverde, Zakarin and (for now) Jungels, who, like du Moulin yesterday, tried to get some bonus seconds today with a not-bad sprint.

 

[therealthing]

Better today: Sky were at the front more and he was actually quite high up on the stage.

Though it's worth pointing out that he lost seconds to Valverde, Zakarin and (for now) Jungels, who, like du Moulin yesterday, tried to get some bonus seconds today with a not-bad sprint.

I don't know why though- there was barely a gap at the line.

 

[Jungle Cycle]

The ONLY good thing on the ESPN Brazilian transmition is the fact that they have a "reporter" at the finish. But she is Landa's girlfriend( @EstelaFarah ). So she has good information. She said tuesday Landa had an alergic reaction with polen and indeed wasn't in good shape. If it wasn't for Roche... She said Sky's doc said he should(!?) be ok for tomorrow...

 

[Gigs_98]

Re:

The ONLY good thing on the ESPN Brazilian transmition is the fact that they have a "reporter" at the finish. But she is Landa's girlfriend( @EstelaFarah ). So she has good information. She said tuesday Landa had an alergic reaction with polen and indeed wasn't in good shape. If it wasn't for Roche... She said Sky's doc said he should(!?) be ok for tomorrow...

That doesnt sound very promising. I fear he will only win tomorrow by one minute

 

[Taxus4a]

Landa and SKY did very well today. if he is this way in an stage like this, in the mountains he will fly.

As I said Landa has allergic problem in a Pais Vasco once. He was in the break in a stage around Zarautz.. and he droped from rider weakers than him, I asked Mikelarri and he told me Landa told him he had alergic problem, he was fine, good feelings, just he couldnt breath well. But I hadnt notices of any other allergic problem with him later...

Some times people ask why we didnt show more in the past, but in some key moments he had some crash, some allergic issues, or maybe people didnt undertand his second place in Indurain or his 5th in San Sebastian for a pure climber like him as a big results... He hadnt the continuity or the circusntances to show before in a GT.. but anyway he was young.

 

[Mr.White]

Re:

Landa and SKY did very well today. if he is this way in an stage like this, in the mountains he will fly.

As I said Landa has allergic problem in a Pais Vasco once. He was in the break in a stage around Zarautz.. and he droped from rider weakers than him, I asked Mikelarri and he told me Landa told him he had alergic problem, he was fine, good feelings, just he couldnt breath well. But I hadnt notices of any other allergic problem with him later...

Some times people ask why we didnt show more in the past, but in some key moments he had some crash, some allergic issues, or maybe people didnt undertand his second place in Indurain or his 5th in San Sebastian for a pure climber like him as a big results... He hadnt the continuity or the circusntances to show before in a GT.. but anyway he was young.

He will have some much harder stages, believe me!

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

He doesnt use to have a good day in a stage with long flats, with a big average speed, with some crosswind, and no long climbs... but the fact is that he had at the end just 2 riders... Astana had a lot of riders... I dont blame SKY, they dont have a super team, but there is a fact Astana is much stronger and some days that could be a problem for Landa.

So he doesn't have an elite engine? That would make winning a GT rather difficult.

I think he has engine. but he is not a very complete rider. Anyway he showed today the contrary, SKY is pulishing his weak points.

 

[mikelarriola]

Re:

The ONLY good thing on the ESPN Brazilian transmition is the fact that they have a "reporter" at the finish. But she is Landa's girlfriend( @EstelaFarah ). So she has good information. She said tuesday Landa had an alergic reaction with polen and indeed wasn't in good shape. If it wasn't for Roche... She said Sky's doc said he should(!?) be ok for tomorrow...

This is no true. Estela is not Mikel´s girlfriend

 

[vedrafjord]

Will be interesting how Landa goes in this Giro because in some ways he's the opposite of the typical Sky rider. I really hope he's not out of contention due to crash/illness/whatever before we get to the big stages.

I actually think the team is pretty strong - most WT teams would kill for a lineup like that, and GTs have certainly been won by much weaker teams.

Would have been stronger with Henao, but still full of people who've climbed well in GTs in the past. There's less support on the flat but still probably just enough to keep him out of trouble.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re: Re:

The ONLY good thing on the ESPN Brazilian transmition is the fact that they have a "reporter" at the finish. But she is Landa's girlfriend( @EstelaFarah ). So she has good information. She said tuesday Landa had an alergic reaction with polen and indeed wasn't in good shape. If it wasn't for Roche... She said Sky's doc said he should(!?) be ok for tomorrow...

This is no true. Estela is not Mikel´s girlfriend

I was close to send you a whatshap yesterday asking why you didnt tell me Landa had such a nice girlfriend...

Everything goes well for your friend...come on!!

But, in fact, I would prefer he losing time and later attacking from far...

About the team.. it is a good team IMO, but with Henao, Kiri and Beñat would have been better...

 

[JRanton]

Yikes. He's going to lose any chance of winning the Giro in the time trial judging by how weak he was on today's stage.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Yikes. He's going to lose any chance of winning the Giro in the time trial judging by how weak he was on today's stage.

Yet he actually didn't do a bad TT on stage 1, he does look below par though. He's going to need to be in monster form for the deciding stages later on in the Giro to win this.

 

[Gigs_98]

Yikes. He's going to lose any chance of winning the Giro in the time trial judging by how weak he was on today's stage.

He probably also was in bad shape in the first stage and still didnt loose as much time in the ITT as expected. Therefore this is the one thing I wouldnt worry about right now if I was a Landa fan. The bigger problem is probably that he was way better in Trentino so it's actually not that likely that he will get a lot better later in the race, while Nibali probably will.
Nevertheless there were also some people who said that Landa was ill or something like that, which could also be an explanation for today.

 

[JRanton]

Re:

The ONLY good thing on the ESPN Brazilian transmition is the fact that they have a "reporter" at the finish. But she is Landa's girlfriend( @EstelaFarah ). So she has good information. She said tuesday Landa had an alergic reaction with polen and indeed wasn't in good shape. If it wasn't for Roche... She said Sky's doc said he should(!?) be ok for tomorrow...

This makes sense now. There's definitely something wrong with him.

 

[JRanton]

Yikes. He's going to lose any chance of winning the Giro in the time trial judging by how weak he was on today's stage.

Yet he actually didn't do a bad TT on stage 1, he does look below par though. He's going to need to be in monster form for the deciding stages later on in the Giro to win this.

Yes, which is why the allergic reaction to pollen on Tuesday makes sense.

 

[therealthing]

Well that was... interesting. A bit crap today, though so were many of the other GC guys. In fact, the "big three" were all below par. We'll have to see how this pans out, but Landa cannot afford to lose too much time in the TT at all.

On the plus side, Sky were very good today. Lots of men protecting Landa until late on, and Roche and Nieve both finished along with that group.

 

[JRanton]

Well that was... interesting. A bit crap today, though so were many of the other GC guys. In fact, the "big three" were all below par. We'll have to see how this pans out, but Landa cannot afford to lose too much time in the TT at all.

On the plus side, Sky were very good today. Lots of men protecting Landa until late on, and Roche and Nieve both finished along with that group.

Yeah, the team will be fine in the mountains, it's the flat where they haven't looked great. Mind you, as we say all the time, it doesn't matter how strong your team is if you haven't got someone to finish off the work. Before the race, none of us were expecting Landa to look as weak as this on a mountain top finish and it bodes terribly for the time trial in a few days time.

 

[therealthing]

Well that was... interesting. A bit crap today, though so were many of the other GC guys. In fact, the "big three" were all below par. We'll have to see how this pans out, but Landa cannot afford to lose too much time in the TT at all.

On the plus side, Sky were very good today. Lots of men protecting Landa until late on, and Roche and Nieve both finished along with that group.

Yeah, the team will be fine in the mountains, it's the flat where they haven't looked great. Mind you, as we say all the time, it doesn't matter how strong your team is if you haven't got someone to finish off the work. Before the race, none of us were expecting Landa to look as weak as this on a mountain top finish and it bodes terribly for the time trial in a few days time.

We shouldn't write anyone off yet. Not sure if he just didn't have the legs to attack or if he was waiting for others to try and bring them back, but he can't be losing silly time like this. Hoping he will pull off a decent TT, he needs to or his Giro is in danger.

 

[TMP402]

Well that was... interesting. A bit crap today, though so were many of the other GC guys. In fact, the "big three" were all below par. We'll have to see how this pans out, but Landa cannot afford to lose too much time in the TT at all.

On the plus side, Sky were very good today. Lots of men protecting Landa until late on, and Roche and Nieve both finished along with that group.

Yeah, the team will be fine in the mountains, it's the flat where they haven't looked great. Mind you, as we say all the time, it doesn't matter how strong your team is if you haven't got someone to finish off the work. Before the race, none of us were expecting Landa to look as weak as this on a mountain top finish and it bodes terribly for the time trial in a few days time.

I expected him to lose the modest amount of time he did today on a weak "MTF".

 

[JRanton]

Well that was... interesting. A bit crap today, though so were many of the other GC guys. In fact, the "big three" were all below par. We'll have to see how this pans out, but Landa cannot afford to lose too much time in the TT at all.

On the plus side, Sky were very good today. Lots of men protecting Landa until late on, and Roche and Nieve both finished along with that group.

Yeah, the team will be fine in the mountains, it's the flat where they haven't looked great. Mind you, as we say all the time, it doesn't matter how strong your team is if you haven't got someone to finish off the work. Before the race, none of us were expecting Landa to look as weak as this on a mountain top finish and it bodes terribly for the time trial in a few days time.

I expected him to lose the modest amount of time he did today on a weak "MTF".

Really? Why? The likes of Chaves and Pozzivivo were better than him and are also pure climbers. Heck, there are barely any tough MTF's in the entire race so where is he going to gain time?

 

[jens_attacks]

he can be 6 minutes behind dumoulin after the itt and still win this giro. the real mikel landa, we'll see on passo giau.
all good so far.

 

[Forever The Best]

Re:

he can be 6 minutes behind dumoulin after the itt and still win this giro. the real mikel landa, we'll see on passo giau.
all good so far.

He must limit his losses to Nibbles though.Plus Nibbles can take time anywhere.Nibali will go full blast on stage 13 if he is in fine form.Maybe even on stage 14.