11 years ago, Mikel Landa rode what was defined at the time as the ‘hardest stage ever of the Vuelta a España’ through Andorra over more than 5,000 vertical metres – and ended up winning.
This time round, when the Vuelta reaches Andorra on stage 4 and once again tackles a non-stop series of climbs, Landa’s in a very different place.
“I’ll be fighting to survive through the first week and then I’ll see what I can do,” Landa told reporters at the Place Grimaldi press centre.
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“This is the most uncertain Vuelta of my career, I’ve had a bad year, I’m on the bounceback from a very difficult injury and I’m certainly not at 100%.”
“I’ll try and ride my way into form, but it’ll be hard.”
On the point of ending his time at Soudal-QuickStep, where he managed to finish fifth in the 2024 Tour de France and was viewed as a key mountain lieutenant for Remco Evenepoel, Landa’s bad crash in the Itzulia, breaking his pelvis, left him out of the count for the Tour this summer.
Instead, as he concludes the 16th season of his career at WorldTour level, Landa says he was determined to go to the Vuelta – “it would have been even worse if I hadn’t” – but he is painfully realistic about his options.
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“I’m just not in good shape, but there is no other option,” Landa, part of a lineup which also includes mountain climber Valentin Paret-Peintre, told reporters.
“I’m racing without pressure, the team knows how I’m doing and so do I. I’ll give it my best, it’d be worse not to race the Vuelta. Hopefully I can enjoy at least one day.
“I haven’t even enjoyed any training this year, it’s been that bad. But I have to be optimistic, above all coming as I do from such a bad situation.”
Landa has signed with his local Proteam, Euskaltel-Euskadi – the squad with which he began life as a pro back in 2012, albeit in a very different structure – for the next two years. The squad wasn’t chosen for the Vuelta or any Grand Tour this year, but he’s not ruling out racing a three-week race again in the future.
“I hope that this won’t be the last,” Landa, twice third in the Giro d’Italia and twice fourth in the Tour de France, said. “I’d like to be back here again.”
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