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Mikel Landa is having a hard time at the Tour de France and in finding a team for 2024: "I have never lacked suitors"
CyclingTuesday, 18 July 2023 at 14:30
Mikel Landa has given a fantastic interview to Relevo in which he talks about his current Tour de France in which things are not going well for him and in which for the first time he confesses that he does not feel calm about his professional future because he does not have a contract with any team for 2024.
How was your day off? "I spent the day doing nothing [laughs]. You know, enjoying the day without the stress of the race: the schedules, the competition, the commute, the daily discipline.... We took a bike ride to recognize the time trial, took a nap... and little else. This is very tiring and we all want to make the most of this rest day to rest and relax".
How are you feeling in this Tour de France? "It's been a different Tour for me. I haven't been feeling well and I'm not being able to perform as I would like to. And in a race as demanding as this one, it's very difficult to turn the situation around. These last few days I've tried to be more active in the breakaways. [I was 5th on stage 15, finishing in Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc, while my teammate Wout Poels took the win.] Going into this last week, I'd like to continue in that vein and go for a stage win.
What went wrong? "I have to evaluate it. I guess I'll be able to come to a conclusion when I'm calm at home. The first part of the year has been very intense. After Liège-Bastogne-Liège, I got sick; in fact, I already retired from Liège with fever and fatigue. I think it was the typical lowering of defenses because I pushed myself a lot during the first months of the year and my body was at the limit. That forced me to stop more time than I wanted to before I started training for the Tour de France. I arrived very close to the Critérium du Dauphiné; there was a certain delay in the preparation... and right now, in the Tour, you can't arrive in any other physical shape than 100%. You can no longer come thinking about going into the race as the days go by."
What good things have happened to you in this Tour de France? "First and foremost is the start from the Basque Country. That's an experience that no one can take away from me. I hadn't ridden the Tour de France for three years and I notice that it has changed a lot. The level that Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard have imposed on this race has raised the bar for everyone. Their struggle is suffered by all of us in the peloton".
On Pogacar and Vingegaard he commented: "There is no truce. It's a fight to the death between Pogačar and Vingegaard, between UAE Team Emirates and Jumbo-Visma. Any situation that benefits one, doesn't serve the other. One wants to go slow the day the other wants to go fast. And that's just the fight for the overall, because the Tour is the Tour and there are a thousand other parallel battles: the green jersey, the mountains, the team classification... The Tour demands a lot from the teams; the teams know that, and there are no excuses for not giving everything".
After confirming that his future is "not" assured, he makes it clear that it is something that does not help him to face this Tour de France with the same tranquility: "The truth is that many things add up. Right now I'm 33 years old, about to turn 34, and obviously I'm coming to the end of my sporting career. This is a situation I've never experienced before because I've never lacked suitors. And not this time either, eh? But it's not the same. And yes, the uncertainty affects. With that in mind, a Tour like this is harder to take."
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