Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

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Re: Re:

KyoGrey said:
hfer07 said:
SeriousSam said:
"Lets hope Chris wins the Tour. If not, lets hope its me"
lol

Interesting choice of words by Landa
In the context of him saying "let's hope" - I tend to believe there seem to be some doubts in the SKY camp -and among the Peloton- about Froome's strength to win this Tour - Chris only needs a bad day to lose 2 minutes to risk the overall title - maybe Landa is set to be there when that happens ....

(Literally)

Reporter: "Who's going to win the Tour? (¿Quién va a ganar el Tour?)"

Landa: "I hope/wish Chris." (Pues ojalá que Chris)"

Landa: Hehehee!!
Reporter: Huahhahahahh!!!

Landa: "If not, ME!" (¡Y si no, yo!)"

Minute 4:02 http://www.cope.es/audios/tiempo-juego/landa-tengo-piernas-tengo-galones_400170

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 
Re:

HelloDolly said:
So Landa did try to take the yellow today...he sais he tried but couldn't ..

https://twitter.com/Procyclingeu/status/885902923502432258

..couldn't even drop Contador who everyone keeps saying is past it...yes he is the best climber on the planet . ha ha

Must say though SKY team is at odds with him...this much is true and he is going to try and do his own thing ....if he does then he has balls

Dropping his companions would have been stupid today. They would have caught him in the final 25km downhill / flat.
 
Re:

Benotti69 said:
Can Landa do his own thing?

Can Sky pull him out of the race at any time or is up to the rider?

Through history many riders have ridden against the supposed leader of their teams and I can't recall them being pulled from the race. I could be wrong though. If it was going to happen it would have happened to Stephen Roche when he went against team orders and rode for himself versus team leader Roberto Visentini, actually stealing the pink jersey from him and eventually winning the Giro. Of course, it would seem that it's even more likely to happen to a less valued domestique than a rider that could potentially win the event. It wouldn't be publicized as much and not something that remains at the top of the sports history. With that in mind, I'll bet that it has happened before. Rabobank pulled Michael Rassmussen in the 2007 Tour, certainly against his own wishes and likely proactively, anticipating his being tossed from the race due to his where-abouts controversy. What is there to discourage them other than a potential lawsuit from the dismissed rider?
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
 
Re: Re:

dacooley said:
Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
Yes of course. If he went full gas on Mortirolo and Finestre alone (when he was absolutely FLYING), without trying to babysit Aru on both occasions, I strongly believe he would've won. Stage 19 was a good opportunity as well, but the call was always to get Aru a stage win (the long stage in Aosta).
 
Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
dacooley said:
Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
Yes of course. If he went full gas on Mortirolo and Finestre alone (when he was absolutely FLYING), without trying to babysit Aru on both occasions, I strongly believe he would've won. Stage 19 was a good opportunity as well, but the call was always to get Aru a stage win (the long stage in Aosta).

What? He was allowed to go with Contador anyway, he did what he could on Mortirolo and Aprica to win a stage. But, lets gift him like 30 seconds because for some reason, he did not go all out. How on earth he was going to get additional 2-3 minutes on Sestriere? It is impossible to ride 3 minutes faster while you are already riding close to your limit and riding on a false flat is not his strength anyway.

He was never going to win the Giro in that year, he was way too much behind after the TT.
 
Re: Re:

burning said:
Valv.Piti said:
dacooley said:
Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
Yes of course. If he went full gas on Mortirolo and Finestre alone (when he was absolutely FLYING), without trying to babysit Aru on both occasions, I strongly believe he would've won. Stage 19 was a good opportunity as well, but the call was always to get Aru a stage win (the long stage in Aosta).

What? He was allowed to go with Contador anyway, he did what he could on Mortirolo and Aprica to win a stage. But, lets gift him like 30 seconds because for some reason, he did not go all out. How on earth he was going to get additional 2-3 minutes on Sestriere? It is impossible to ride 3 minutes faster while you are already riding close to your limit and riding on a false flat is not his strength anyway.

He was never going to win the Giro in that year, he was way too much behind after the TT.
Do you think Landa was going all out on Mortirolo? He literally waited for Aru until it became blatantly obvious Aru was poor and then latched unto Contador.
 
Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
burning said:
Valv.Piti said:
dacooley said:
Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
Yes of course. If he went full gas on Mortirolo and Finestre alone (when he was absolutely FLYING), without trying to babysit Aru on both occasions, I strongly believe he would've won. Stage 19 was a good opportunity as well, but the call was always to get Aru a stage win (the long stage in Aosta).

What? He was allowed to go with Contador anyway, he did what he could on Mortirolo and Aprica to win a stage. But, lets gift him like 30 seconds because for some reason, he did not go all out. How on earth he was going to get additional 2-3 minutes on Sestriere? It is impossible to ride 3 minutes faster while you are already riding close to your limit and riding on a false flat is not his strength anyway.

He was never going to win the Giro in that year, he was way too much behind after the TT.
Do you think Landa was going all out on Mortirolo? He literally waited for Aru until it became blatantly obvious Aru was poor and then latched unto Contador.


Yeah, he waited for like 20 seconds, then sit on Contador's wheel for 35 kms. What a game changer that could have been if he did not wait for 20 seconds.
 
Aug 6, 2015
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Re: Re:

Valv.Piti said:
dacooley said:
Valv.Piti said:
Mikel Landani Meana is a legendary rider. Mythical! I hope he stays true to himself and don't let anyone in the car tell him what to do, he has already thrown away one GT that way.
Do you sincerely think those 5 mins he had to give away Bertie in TT were within a reach? :surprised:
Yes of course. If he went full gas on Mortirolo and Finestre alone (when he was absolutely FLYING), without trying to babysit Aru on both occasions, I strongly believe he would've won. Stage 19 was a good opportunity as well, but the call was always to get Aru a stage win (the long stage in Aosta).
C'mon... he wasn't able to drop contador in stage 19.
 
Re: Re:

KyoGrey said:
hfer07 said:
SeriousSam said:
"Lets hope Chris wins the Tour. If not, lets hope its me"
lol

Interesting choice of words by Landa
In the context of him saying "let's hope" - I tend to believe there seem to be some doubts in the SKY camp -and among the Peloton- about Froome's strength to win this Tour - Chris only needs a bad day to lose 2 minutes to risk the overall title - maybe Landa is set to be there when that happens ....

(Literally)

Reporter: "Who's going to win the Tour? (¿Quién va a ganar el Tour?)"

Landa: "I hope/wish Chris." (Pues ojalá que Chris)"

Landa: Hehehee!!
Reporter: Huahhahahahh!!!

Landa: "If not, ME!" (¡Y si no, yo!)"

Minute 4:02 http://www.cope.es/audios/tiempo-juego/landa-tengo-piernas-tengo-galones_400170

Gracias por el link- en verdad un poco picante las declaraciones de Landa!!! :D :D

Landa speaks in certain way- perhaps deceiving, perhaps some double talking, but there is no doubt he feels good and his form is there to keep clawing his way up. :)
 
Re:

Valv.Piti said:
Burning, I think we saw a completely different race on the Mortirolo. Fair game :)

I really don't understand. If he left Aru behind before they got caught by Contador, maybe he would have a 50 second-1 minute lead on Contador, which he will struggle to hold on given the fact that he is not the best descender and bad TT'er/rouleur on false flat.

If he really thought he could have hold the lead on the descent and to Aprica, he could have just went away after he left Aru behind, but he did not choose to do that for some reason. Maybe something was wrong with him mentally, or he did not believe that he was going to win the GC, but he was never going to win the Giro in that year given the circumstances of that day. It was totally right for Astana to back Aru until he cracked on Mortirolo, and I agree that stopping Landa on Sestriere was absolutely horrible, but the GC was out of reach by that point, and they trusted Aru to win that stage for Vino reasons.
 
Apr 10, 2011
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Re:

Dekker_Tifosi said:
One thing for sure, Landa is much less of a directions follower than Poels was, and that's making Froome uncertain. I love it

Poels was never close to the GC anyway, unfair to compare the two
 
May 26, 2010
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Re: Re:

Angliru said:
Benotti69 said:
Can Landa do his own thing?

Can Sky pull him out of the race at any time or is up to the rider?

Through history many riders have ridden against the supposed leader of their teams and I can't recall them being pulled from the race. I could be wrong though. If it was going to happen it would have happened to Stephen Roche when he went against team orders and rode for himself versus team leader Roberto Visentini, actually stealing the pink jersey from him and eventually winning the Giro. Of course, it would seem that it's even more likely to happen to a less valued domestique than a rider that could potentially win the event. It wouldn't be publicized as much and not something that remains at the top of the sports history. With that in mind, I'll bet that it has happened before. Rabobank pulled Michael Rassmussen in the 2007 Tour, certainly against his own wishes and likely proactively, anticipating his being tossed from the race due to his where-abouts controversy. What is there to discourage them other than a potential lawsuit from the dismissed rider?

Ta for the reply.

In Roche's case the team wanted the win, so why jeopardise that, but Visentini had more than half the team riding for him. Roche even had to race on a bike with a broken steel fork. So they did try to remove him from the race without making it look like they were doing it.

I guess the sponsors would rather win the race with any rider than not win. So a team is not going to take a rider out.

Rabo pulled the team from the race, probably at the behest of ASO.

I guess Sky would look stupid pulling a rider who could've won the race if Froome doesn't win.
 
KyoGrey said:
Landa should be a good boy till the next rest day, so that the team doesn't cut him from the famous Sky Team A treatment.

The perfect nurse for Froome, always on his side in the race, in the hotel laughing at his silly jokes as if he was his best pal.

Once the refill is in, on Wendesday and Thursday he can ditch Sky and go full berserk, maybe as a companion of Contador in his Alpine adventures.

And be sure that he eats his food and drinks his beverages from uncontaminated recipients. :rolleyes:
Not a bad idea to throw to the bin anything the team gives to him, maybe find a source of clean supplies from Nieve if he is of confidence.

Quite a conspiracy... but can't really say it's non-sense. In fact, I believe it could pretty much happen if Landa goes rogue.
 
Nov 29, 2010
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Ironically Landa is only in such a good position because he is on Sky.

Being on Sky allows him to make a move like today without the strongest team in the race pulling you back. If he's on any other team he's still way back in the GC.

Having said that I think it's best for both parties he switches team at the end of the season.