"These are races that I haven't done for years and I'm good at them" - Mikel Landa sets up main goals for the 2025 season

The 2025 season is very close. At Soudal - Quick-Step there is life beyond the recovery of Remco Evenepoel, injured for the foreseeable due to a training accident, and the retirement of Patrick Lefevere. The Belgian team is full of stars. One of them is Mikel Landa, who is very excited about the upcoming season.

The 35-year-old Basque rider signed with Soudal - Quick-Step before the start of 2024. Although he did so to act as Evenepoel's super domestique in the Tour de France (which he did with flying colours), he achieved outstanding results on his own. "For me, the 2024 season has been a good one. In 2023 I ended up burnt out, but this year I've regained my enthusiasm. In almost all the races where I raced I finished in the Top 10: Criterium du Dauphiné, Tour de France, Vuelta a Espana...," Landa reflects in conversation with EFE.

It is true that Mikel Landa is getting closer to retirement. However, the Basque does not want to know anything about it yet. In fact, he talks excitedly about what awaits him in 2025, also confirming some of the races in which he will compete with Soudal - Quick-Step. Landa will race the Volta a Catalunya and Tirreno-Adriatico: "These are races that I haven't done for years and I'm good at them," he said, also revealing that he would like to make his debut in the Strade Bianche.

Historically, Mikel Landa has not been a rider who has been particularly interested in the big classics of the cycling calendar. The only one he has competed in religiously is the Clasica San Sebastian, for obvious reasons. Even so, he has never achieved outstanding results in the race. His best performance is a 5th place in 2017.

For that reason, it will be very interesting to see how Landa would perform in a Strade Bianche. That he is looking forward to new challenges in one-day races is a clear sign of how happy the rider is with his time at Soudal - Quick-Step.