"I told him that he was losing the race" - Mikel Landa confused with Sepp Kuss' unwillingness to collaborate at Alto de l'Angliru

Mikel Landa was one of the main protagonists of the Angliru climb, as Bahrain Victorious worked throughout the climb to try to get the Spaniard to win. However, the Jumbo-Visma riders ended up taking over the head of the race. After the race he revealed his strategy:

"Today was a stage that motivated me a lot and we tried to use the team, which was 10. It's a pity that Roglic and Vingegaard were the strongest today as well," Landa said in a post-race interview. He was questioned about the fact that Sepp Kuss stayed with his teammates and he would have ended up 'giving him a hand': "Yes, well, he didn't want to give me any relief and I told him 'you're losing your career', but well, they'll know".

On whether he can fight to be the best Spaniard, he assured that it was not his goal: "It is not what consoles me, I would like to win a stage and finish as far ahead as possible in the general classification".

Landa did succeed in that, his brilliant performance was the first major climbing ride since the spring where he showed tremendous form, and it led him into the Top5 of the race - with the fourth place of Juan Ayuso only 16 seconds away.

FITNESS STATUS

"At the beginning of the year I was good, now I'm also very good, but at the beginning of the year I was better."

KUSS' GUILT AT THE FINISH

"He knows what it's like to be on someone's wheel without helping them and then sprinting them. I appreciate his apology, it says a lot about him."

ABOUT KUSS AFTER LEAVING ROGLIC AND VINGEGAARD

"I don't care, I don't know what their plan is and I don't care what they do."

SENSATIONS

"Very good, I felt good, there are two very hard days left and I'm motivated for what's left. Today we had the stage marked and they were all '10', I'm very happy with the team's performance".