Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Alexandre B.]

He lost silly seconds in Serre-Chevalier too.

 

[SeriousSam]

With a 1 second gap there's a huge amount of tiny perturbations that could get Landa onto the podium. It makes little sense to focus on any particular one of them

 

[staubsauger]

No. 1 favorite for the 2018 Giro if he gets his act together. Simply because out of whoever starts from Aru, Nibali, Zakarin, Bardet, Fuglsang, Dumoulin, Pinot he's got the best climbing + TT combo nowadays.

I don't expect Quintana to go again. Neither with Movistar, nor for Astana. Uran has been that unlucky with his past two Giro appearances, that likely prefers another shot at the Tour as well.

 

[Matteo.]

Re:

No. 1 favorite for the 2018 Giro if he gets his act together. Simply because out of whoever starts from Aru, Nibali, Zakarin, Bardet, Fuglsang, Dumoulin, Pinot he's got the best climbing + TT combo nowadays.

I don't expect Quintana to go again. Neither with Movistar, nor for Astana. Uran has been that unlucky with his past two Giro appearances, that likely prefers another shot at the Tour as well.

Yeah, it could be a good call

 

[Red Rick]

Just saw a 15 second interview with Landa. It went like this

"Mikel, do you have a second?"
*silence*

 

[TomLPC]

Well judging by the interview on eurosport, landa fully intends to attack tomorrow

 

[TMP402]

Re:

Well judging by the interview on eurosport, landa fully intends to attack tomorrow

Woo!

 

[johnlocke95]

Re:

Well judging by the interview on eurosport, landa fully intends to attack tomorrow

Really or ironically? I would love it. The French would be furious though, haha.

But I think ASO will neutralize the GC race and stop when they first enter Champs-Elysees.

 

[benzwire]

Re:

Just saw a 15 second interview with Landa. It went like this

"Mikel, do you have a second?"
*silence*

LOL!

 

[liamito]

Hopefully this bad luck makes him even more motivated for San Sebastian next week. After all it will be something new to have an edition without Valverde and Purito.

 

[DNP-Old]

This is where he lost podium:

 

[PremierAndrew]

Landa lost 17 seconds to Bardet in the first ITT.

There are so many places Landa could've got that extra second

 

[Poursuivant]

Yes there are so many, Sky could have gave him some rope on Izoard but as we all know they always stick to Plan A.

Let's not forget though, Bardet got away with that 20 second penalty. That would mean Landa on the podium.

 

[andrew_s]

Re: Re:

But I think ASO will neutralize the GC race and stop when they first enter Champs-Elysees.

ASO will only neutralize the stage if it's wet (like 2015), but they will be reluctant to call bunch spilts (quite apart from it being 3 seconds now).
Last year Sky sat up and let a gap open, coming over the line all together for the photos. They were at 1:13 (as still seen in the CN stage results), but still got the winner's time under the 3km rule despite not actually having been held up (as seen on the ASO stage results).

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

But I think ASO will neutralize the GC race and stop when they first enter Champs-Elysees.

ASO will only neutralize the stage if it's wet (like 2015), but they will be reluctant to call bunch spilts (quite apart from it being 3 seconds now).
Last year Sky sat up and let a gap open, coming over the line all together for the photos. They were at 1:13 (as still seen in the CN stage results), but still got the winner's time under the 3km rule despite not actually having been held up (as seen on the ASO stage results).

Yeah if I remember correctly, it the ASO hadn't neutralized the stage afterwards that would have been his closes tdf victory . And I think if there had been no neutralization Rodriguez would have lost his gc top ten, which is why I was actually quite surprised nobody protested against the completely nonsensical decision.

 

[lenric]

http://cyclingpub.com/article/2579/Tour+de+France+-+Mikel+Landa%3A+I%27m+angry+about+that+second

Very interesting answer from Landa about GT leadership.

 

[cellardoor]

Re:

http://cyclingpub.com/article/2579/Tour+de+France+-+Mikel+Landa%3A+I%27m+angry+about+that+second

Very interesting answer from Landa about GT leadership.

He certainly could have got that 1 second if he'd known, but I'm surprised he mentions bonus seconds, which seems like the least likely place to get that second for him. It would make more sense if he'd said he could have drilled it on the front during the finale of that stage a bit more than he did.

 

[Lequack]

He looked gutted yesterday at the podium presentation, not smiling at all.

 

[Red Rick]

Never seen a guy fresher after doing the Giro-Tour double.

 

[wouterkaas]

Re:

Landa lost 17 seconds to Bardet in the first ITT.

There are so many places Landa could've got that extra second

Bardet also got 14 bonification seconds, while Landa had none

 

[jsem94]

Landa also could not have sat up plenty of times and lost contact with the group and ended up a few seconds behind on a few occasions.

 

[Taxus4a]

Re:

Never seen a guy fresher after doing the Giro-Tour double.

I think it is similar to the Tour Vuelta double, even you can be fresher becouse is early on the season. He is going to do Burgos and San Sebastian and I am sure he will be at a good level.
The level Contador showed to beat Aru on the Giro it wanst very different to the level he showed on the Tour, a month later. He was 5th, better than now, and considering ITT and mountains, similar to this year Aru (and I thnk this Tour Aru was stronger than that Giro 2015)
Not everybody can do that, double with similar level but some people yes. And I think Tour Vuelta is similar.

 

[Taxus4a]

I had a very reliable information about Landa to sign 2 years with Movistar, but now I am not so sure.

I think could be a good election, and to his home in Murguia to Pamplona it is just 1 hora by car. No pressure, at home, strong team, but difficult to have a leadership except some races as the Giro.

 

[sienna]

Re:

Landa lost 17 seconds to Bardet in the first ITT.

There are so many places Landa could've got that extra second

21 stages.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

Never seen a guy fresher after doing the Giro-Tour double.

I think it is similar to the Tour Vuelta double, even you can be fresher becouse is early on the season. He is going to do Burgos and San Sebastian and I am sure he will be at a good level.
The level Contador showed to beat Aru on the Giro it wanst very different to the level he showed on the Tour, a month later. He was 5th, better than now, and considering ITT and mountains, similar to this year Aru (and I thnk this Tour Aru was stronger than that Giro 2015)
Not everybody can do that, double with similar level but some people yes. And I think Tour Vuelta is similar.

No, it's not similar at all, unless you're freak of nature like Valverde. For Le Tour everybody is fresh and in top form and the speed is exceptional, on flat stages particularly, which sometimes hurts the most. When someone has a full Giro in his legs, contesting for the GC there, it's pretty damn hard to achieve high placement in the Tour, as Contador and Quintana showed. Yet this same two riders had no problems to reach good and sometimes great level at La Vuelta after the Tour, which implies another thing, everybody is tired at Vuelta, nobody is fresh, and pure quality, strength, endurance and recovery comes to the fore. No one has an advantage of being fresh, or rarely has. And if that case occurs they play a big part in the race, often the biggest, like Valverde in 2009, Contador in 2012 and Horner in 2013.
As far as Contador's level at the Giro and the Tour, I would say that you basically don't know what you're talking about, no offence.