Mikel Landa in the lead! Basque rider will be chasing Giro d'Italia victory in 2025 in the absence of Remco Evenepoel
Cycling
The Giro d'Itlalia is slowly taking shape and more Grand Tour contenders confirm their presence in the 2025 race. After the likes of Primoz Roglic, Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso... We've got a new contender for the pink jersey: Mikel Landa!
The Corsa Rosa was very much a possibility for Remco Evenepoel this year, who had it in mind after succeeding in chasing a stage win and podium at last year's Tour de France. But the Belgian rider crashed about a month ago and his original plans were ultimately changed, meanining he should return to racing in the Ardennes and then focus on the Tour de France.
But the Belgian team won't head to the first Grand Tour of the year without a serious GC contender. Mikel Landa, after being signed in 2024 and putting in a terrific Tour de France, has proven to have the legs to fight for a win as long as the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard are not present.
That may very well be the case in 2025, and the Basque rider will return to the race where he became an extremely popular figure in 2015, where he finished third in the overall classification, having a mix of incredibly impressive stage wins but also a lot of drama and controversy over his role with Astana and alongside Fabio Aru at the time.
“I am very happy that I will race the Giro, which holds a special place in my heart. It’s the race that helped me make a name as a rider. Back in 2015 I won two stages there and finished third on the standings, and that stage I won over Mortirolo with the finish in Aprica is to this day one of my best memories," the Basque said in a press release. "It’s going to be a challenge, because there will be many good riders at the start, but I will do my best to fight for a stage win and a good result in the general classification. I look forward to the month of May and to meeting again the incredible Italian fans who make the Giro one of the best races in the world”
Landa has raced the Giro on seven occasions, the first being in 2014. He has finished on the podium in the 2015 and 2022 editions whilst he was also fourth in 2019. Recently, he was fifth at the Tour de France and eighth at the Vuelta a España in 2024, and at age of 35 it seems like the climber is stronger than ever. The Belgian team has announced this news, and tomorrow on the team's media day he should reveal where else he will race this upcoming season.
🚨 Here we go 😁@MikelLandaMeana will be at the start of the @giroditalia this year with the goal of fighting for a stage win and a good GC 💪#ElLandismoEstaMasVivoQueNunca pic.twitter.com/z0ziHGYrrB
— Soudal Quick-Step Pro Cycling Team (@soudalquickstep) January 8, 2025
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- She appears as dominant among the women as Pogacar is in the men's peloton. But she doesn't appear to have even a basic understanding of racing tactics. Moreover, it seems like the entire field races against her, including her own team. This is odd, as she seems like a nice person in interviews, but something is clearly going on. If she just wants to go hard, she might do better switching to triathlon, or just running. It doesn't seem like she is going to figure out bike racing.
Barney09-01-2025 - i have MASSIVE respect for vollering as an athlete. how can you not? but i do agree about the limits of her tactical and interpersonal skills. if she had both to the same degree as someone like kasia niewiadoma, she would end her career someday as one of the greatest cyclists of all time — male, female, whatever…OCexile08-01-2025
- Completely agree.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- i’m pretty sure mathieu has never spent a moment of his adult life dreaming of winning the Tour. he’s known for a very long time that that’s not the kind of rider he is. I’m also pretty sure he’s known for a very long time that TDF stages count for a lot in the palmares of big puncheurs like him and wout. he hasn’t decided he doesn’t care about racking up stage wins at the tour because they wouldn’t matter in terms of his legacy. he KNOWS they would. so it’s more interesting than that. he doesn’t care about stages IN SPITE of knowing how much they “matter.” he doesn’t care because he just DOESN’T CARE about anyone else’s standards or judgments. he decides what he’s interested in, what captures his imagination, and he just does THAT (within the WIDE parameters of free choice he’s allowed at Alpecin, which are certainly wider and freer than anyone else in the peloton).OCexile08-01-2025
- Isn't the riders comming from indoor e-sport cycling crashing a lot?Jkolner12308-01-2025
- Right... Unless the two people above consider 2 Paris Roubaix and 3 Ronde meaningless... You don't win that many editions by being lucky.alsene08-01-2025
- Call it how you want, in order to win which matters to him, even if it’s for the team as lead-out, he has to and tries to be in top shape 10 out of 12 months, whether that’s a bunch of peaks, a couple of prolonged peaks or just that his general level is so good he can win anytime without peaking is a new discussion.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- I think he’s right and mental attitude is one of the biggest factors at elite level, especially over 3 weeks.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- Enforcing cease and desist isn't working. The site is still live (8 Jan 13:55 CET)leodis08-01-2025
- You’re both right but also both (me too) biased by this endless indoctrination through the expectations of others (no cyclist is worth mentioning without a tdf legacy) and sorry Fred but the part about him having to win the whole thing is misguided, Cavendish is venerated by most and he might not have even reached 50th in the how many editions he did (about double Merckxs). As rightly said Mathieu rides for HIMSELF (aside obligations) take it or leave it, I really don’t think he (and most others, even Cav or Pog) lie around in bed at night worrying or strategising about how to cement a place in history. We are lucky to witness a period where some of the best cyclists are (aside from money) motivated in the right way, you can often see in the authentic way they celebrate crossing the line after a huge effort, MVDPs are some of the best, 100% dedication, my favourite was the communion with his grandfather when he won that stage, it was visibly (worth seeing again if available) so powerful, I even think the only reason he tried the TdF at all (he’d never really shown any interest personally and I’m pretty sure it was a business “obligation” was in hommage to his grandfather who meant so much to him. Once done I think he realised he doesn’t enjoy it (should he (any of us actually) force himself to do a job he isn’t enjoying?) and saw no more reason to continue but being open he accepted to try something new, lead-out man and did it admirably. His riding career has now probably “peaked” and he’ll want to focus on those things personally still important before it’s too late and leads to regrets. I am sure he’ll regret his luck/carelessness at Olympics more than anything TdF related and among future goals, that will be his number 1 rectification target and sorry for those TdF obsessors (who often watch nothing else all year) but for many the Olympics are more important than eg the Tour, no matter what the majority of cycling thinks, and they have that right.Mistermaumau08-01-2025