💥 Exciting ascent on Blockhaus ramps with @MikelLandaMeana taking 4th on the first GC test @giroditalia and he moved up to 7th place GC. #RideAsOne #Giro 📸 @SprintCycling
Performance at Blockhaus "a good signal" for Mikel Landa who overcomes late crash to attack race
CyclingMonday, 16 May 2022 at 08:30
Mikel Landa and Pello Bilbao came into the Giro d'Italia as big favourites for the overall classification, and yesterday had their first major challenge as the race was blown wide open on the ascent to Blockhaus. The Bahrain - Victorious duo rode a strong stage despite being affected by crashes.
Mikel Landa, who finished fourth at the end of the day, told after the finish: "In the end, the stage was good for us, despite some crashes, not only for me but also for Pello and Buitrago. But I was in the front with the best of the day, which is a good signal." The Basque crashed on the descent of Passo Lanciano, however he picked himself back up and rode alongside the very best in the final ascent, to climb onto seventh place in the GC.
He responded to the moves of Richard Carapaz and Romain Bardet in the final kilometers, displaying his traditional climbing skills to get himself in a favourable position for the coming weeks. "We are still there, and everything is clearer, and we see which riders are stronger. We’ve got more stages to go through, and we will see day by day," he added.
Despite loosing Santiago Buitrago in the GC battle due to early crashes - where Pello Bilbao also saw himself affected, it was an overall good day for the team as several big contenders suffered heavy losses such as Simon Yates. Bilbao was dropped early in the ascent, however he paced himself to the finish and went onto a solid 12th place on the road which keep his ambitions very much alive.
Bilbao, now in tenth place 1:22 minutes behind on Juan Pedro López, said at the end of the day: "...We can be happy with the day and Mikel arriving in the first group. I wanted to be with him for longer, but I wasn’t that useful and just kept my rhythm. Luckily we can fix everything over the rest day with the support of the best masseurs and osteopaths to bring us back to 100%."
claps 0visitors 68
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- Most of these have nothing to do with rider safety or are completely unachievablevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Depends on how fast the Cipressa would be beforehand and in what condition Philipsen would bevappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Some things sound crazy until they aren't, what if he's actually right? 🤷vappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- Why make a comment to state the obvious? Of course MvdP is much better at CX than Pogacar, does anyone doubt that But that wasn't his pointvappaxbipmv23-12-2024
- If you look at road alone obvi Pogacar is the better rider. But maybe MVDP is the better overall rider since he can win in three plus disciplines?mobk23-12-2024
- Correction on 2021 Olympics. It was mainly the Dutch ladies who didn’t know who was leading the race. Other teams like the Germans and Italians knew that Kiesenhofer was out front.mobk23-12-2024
- A champion turning into a sore loser. Or is he on coke again?
UltimateOpportunist23-12-2024 - If you look at the major races they’ve both been in, van der Poel had the early edge as lately Pogacar has had the advantage. It’s all on procyclingstats.RidesHills23-12-2024
- I wouldn’t assume Tadej can’t win at cross. He did a cross race, not a World Cup, a few years ago and crushed the field. It was a minor race. But he can win anywhere.mij23-12-2024
- I wonder what would happen if Pogacar attacked on the Cipressa instead of the Poggio in San Remo? Would MvdPoel still be able to follow?Ride197423-12-2024