Landa overcomes pre-stage jitters to move into Vuelta a España top 10

Vuelta Espana 2021 - 76th Edition - 3rd stage Santo Domingo de Silos - Picon Blanco 202.8 km - 16/08/2021 - Mikel Landa (ESP - Bahrain Victorious) - photo Luis Angel Gomez/BettiniPhoto©2021
Mikel Landa supported by Bahrain Victorious teammates on stage 3 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) may have been nervous before the Vuelta a España’s first summit finish on Monday but he nonetheless managed to perform well above his own expectations on the Picón Blanco and retain all his GC options.

The Basque broke his collarbone and several ribs in the Giro d’Italia this May and despite winning the Vuelta a Burgos last week by his own admission the Bahrain Victorious leader had not performed brilliantly when the local stage race tackled Picón Blanco 10 days ago.

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Alasdair Fotheringham

Alasdair Fotheringham has been reporting on cycling since 1991. He has covered every Tour de France since 1992 bar one, as well as numerous other bike races of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the Olympic Games in 2008 to the now sadly defunct Subida a Urkiola hill climb in Spain. As well as working for Cyclingnews, he has also written for The IndependentThe GuardianProCycling, The Express and Reuters.