Mikel Landa Discussion Thread

[Salvarani]

Re:

7th in Liege. On track for Il Giro.

Yup. Had not seen him at all during the race but then he popped up on the screen in RaF.

Hopefully a confidence boost ahead of Giro.

 

[Koronin]

He seems to be finding some form and that's good news for him headed into the Giro.

 

[fuiers]

Re:

He seems to be finding some form and that's good news for him headed into the Giro.

Looking to be in really good form. Stage win in Giro would a nice suprise.

 

[Blanco]

Re: Re:

He seems to be finding some form and that's good news for him headed into the Giro.

Looking to be in really good form. Stage win in Giro would a nice suprise.

Stage win?! He's going to be a major contender for the overall with this form!

 

[ice&fire]

Stage win would be a surprise only if it is in a sprint

 

[Salvarani]

Re: Re:

He seems to be finding some form and that's good news for him headed into the Giro.

Looking to be in really good form. Stage win in Giro would a nice suprise.

Stage win?! He's going to be a major contender for the overall with this form!

Hopefully the rest of the team is strong too. Carapaz should be there. Betancur hopefully will be good too. Wonder who will replace Valverde though?

He will need to perform really good in TTs or just not lose more than 2-3 minutes at most in total for those. Then be super strong in the mountains.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

He seems to be finding some form and that's good news for him headed into the Giro.

Looking to be in really good form. Stage win in Giro would a nice suprise.

Stage win?! He's going to be a major contender for the overall with this form!

Hopefully the rest of the team is strong too. Carapaz should be there. Betancur hopefully will be good too. Wonder who will replace Valverde though?

He will need to perform really good in TTs or just not lose more than 2-3 minutes at most in total for those. Then be super strong in the mountains.

The only riders on the team who could come close to that and that's only if they are at their best form would be Soler or Amador. They really don't have anyone who can truly replace Valverde.

 

[fuiers]

So a leader now in Giro?

 

[tobydawq]

So a leader now in Giro?

That has been the plan all along.

 

[ice&fire]

We need Carapaz to be as good as him for the drama

 

[rick james]

So a leader now in Giro?

Think he was always anyway

 

[Koronin]

So a leader now in Giro?

He always was. The only difference is now all the pressure is on him. If Alejandro had been there Alejandro would have taken part of the responsibility of leadership so that it wasn't fully on Landa. Landa also said today that he is disappointed that Valverde had to withdraw from going to the Giro and said something about Valverde being the biggest asset the team has so now it will be more difficult to achieve the goals the team has for the Giro.

 

[ice&fire]

Today he looked a bit better than Carapaz in the Vuelta a Asturias queen stage. They took a minute on the third man at the summit of Acebo, but he did most of the work. In the descend they gained 50 more seconds and then he gifted the stage win (and 4 bonus seconds for the GC) to his teammate. I guess Little Richard will then be forced to follow team orders and play second fiddle in the Giro.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

Today he looked a bit better than Carapaz in the Vuelta a Asturias queen stage. They took a minute on the third man at the summit of Acebo, but he did most of the work. In the descend they gained 50 more seconds and then he gifted the stage win (and 4 bonus seconds for the GC) to his teammate. I guess Little Richard will then be forced to follow team orders and play second fiddle in the Giro.

Ok.

There is your quote.

 

[Koronin]

I heard Amador is the rider who will be replacing Valverde on the Giro team.

 

[Salvarani]

Re:

I heard Amador is the rider who will be replacing Valverde on the Giro team.

If true, that should be good for the team. He is a strong domestique.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Amador is strong and if all three are riding good they will have options for GC.

 

[CTQ]

A DNS for today, problems with a foot.
https://twitter.com/Movistar_Team/status/1124942946342719489 En la salida de Cangas del Narcea no contaremos con @MikelLandaMeana. El alavés, 2º ayer en la jornada 'reina', arrastra molestias en una uña de su pie derecho, lo que aconseja un mayor tiempo de recuperación para tomar la salida del #Giro con plenas garantías. #VueltaAsturias

 

[HelloDolly]

The Landa hype train are very quiet ??

My view on Landa have been recorded here ...not a GT winner. imo ..but I expect him to gain time in week 3 and get a top 5

What I don't understand is the Movistar team saying he was the best form ever ? I know it was only 8km but he hardly looked GT climbing genius on the climb
Movistar said the same about Quintana 2 years ago at the Tour and he had nothing. Wonder what they base their views on ?

 

[Koronin]

Landa said after the TT that he felt off at the start and it didn't get any better throughout the TT.

It's possible Landa is in his best form he's had since he's joined Movistar. We never really saw any kind of good from from him last year. Granted part of that was due to crashes and injuries.

As the riders for the most part train on their own, I'd go with they are basing it on what the riders are telling them.

 

[durtyfat7]

He was clearly in good form in Vuelta Asturias and Liege. I really think it was only a bad day and it can happen to anyone. Don't forget that the first mountain stage comes very late in the race and considering he peaked for the 3rd week and he didn't race alot this year, he will be a candidate for the podium for sure.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Re:

Landa said after the TT that he felt off at the start and it didn't get any better throughout the TT.

It's possible Landa is in his best form he's had since he's joined Movistar. We never really saw any kind of good from from him last year. Granted part of that was due to crashes and injuries.

As the riders for the most part train on their own, I'd go with they are basing it on what the riders are telling them.

Probably he went too hard on the flat part, despite feeling bad, and cracked on the climb because he went too deep into the red zone too early.

 

[Serpentin]

He looked overgeared in the climb. He can still podium but this edition doesn´t have that many chances to take back time for a pure climber. Top 5 and Maglia Azzura and then podium in the Tour would be ok. I want him to go for Giro Vuelta this year.

 

[Koronin]

He looked overgeared in the climb. He can still podium but this edition doesn´t have that many chances to take back time for a pure climber. Top 5 and Maglia Azzura and then podium in the Tour would be ok. I want him to go for Giro Vuelta this year.

He wants to go to the Tour so he'll be at that Tour.

 

[Nirvana]

Like I said before I think Landa needs to be second fiddle to do really well, when he's the leader he always struggles or has something that hamper him, I can see him being better at the Tour with Quintana as supposed leader.