Seven years, seven long years have passed between Mikel Landa’s first podium finish in a Grand Tour and his second, both in the race that has brought him joy and misfortune in almost equal measure: the Giro d’Italia. In that 2015, the man from Alava walked as much or more than Alberto Contador when the road looked to the sky in the last days, but his status as a gregarious for his leader at the time in Astana, Fabio Aru, prevented him from dreaming of higher levels tall.
Today, Mikel closes the circle with a new third place in the Corsa Rosa, his second podium finish in a three-week round, with which he shelves a few bitter memories: 4th in the 2017 Tour de France (only one second behind by Romain Bardet, who was 3rd) and 2020, and 4th in the 2019 Giro (after Roglic, by 8″).
“I’m happy, it’s a day of celebration. We finished very tired because it was a tough final week, but I’m happy to be back on the podium. The team has been ten, everyone gave 100% despite the fact that we had a significant loss at the beginning (Tratnik)”, explained the man from Alava at the end of a final time trial in which a real minute was left with Hindley (at 3:24 in the general classification) and Carapaz (.Goals now? We will have to sit down and think if we think in the Tour or in La Vuelta.