Mikel Landa aiming for two Grand Excursions in 2021

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Staff Bahrain rider Spains Mikel Landa rides all through the 18th stage of the 107th version of the Tour de France biking race 168 km concerning Meribel and La Roche sur Foron on September 17 2020 Image by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD AFP Image by KENZO TRIBOUILLARDAFP by using Getty Illustrations or photos

Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) will when once more target the Tour de France in 2021, aiming for the podium right after ending fourth at the 2020 race. He’ll also race one more Grand Tour, while which a single has nevertheless to be decided.

The Spaniard took aspect in his fifth Tour this 12 months, having the opportunity to lead a group for the first time possessing moved from Movistar to Bahrain McLaren. He recurring his 2017 consequence of fourth over-all, finishing the race 5:58 down on winner Tadej Pogačar.

“The Tour is the big goal of the yr, that is clear,” a member of Landa’s entourage informed Basque newspaper Deia. “But it is genuine that Mikel wants to race another Grand Tour.

“This 12 months, the situation did not healthy, as we all know, but if you go back again to a standard calendar, he needs to do two Grand Excursions. We will not know if it will be the Giro d’Italia or the Vuelta a España that will sign up for the Tour.”

Landa, who turns 31 on Sunday, has raced the Giro 5 situations and the Vuelta on 4 situations, his greatest benefits coming in Italy with a third-place end behind Alberto Contador and then-teammate Fabio Aru in 2015.

His Grand Tour phase wins have occur at both of those races, all in the mountains, with wins at Madonna di Campiglio, Aprica and Piancavallo in Italy, and victory at Cortals d’Encamp at the 2015 Vuelta. He’ll wait for the route bulletins in advance of selecting which race to revisit, even though.

“The most usual detail is that he will go to the race in which the route is most acceptable for him,” stated the resource. “But he does have the idea of competing in two Grand Tours. It can be something he likes, and his overall body recovers properly among two these efforts. He digests it nicely.

“Bodily, he has put in extremely very little [in 2020], but psychologically it has been a challenging calendar year. He was left with the wish for an additional race.”

Landa, who on Thursday will head to the Canary Islands to train, will also focus on his property race, Itzulia, early in the time. The race wasn’t held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but returns to its normal mid-April calendar location in 2021. Landa has raced there six time beforehand, taking two stage wins around the several years, as effectively as ending 2nd in 2018. 

“This is just one of Mikel’s targets. He will go out with the notion of competing for the victory. He wishes to be fantastic in his residence race.”