Mikel Landa has been here before, itching for freedom but hemmed in by team duties. The Basque is arguably the strongest climber on this Giro d’Italia but he finds himself cutting his cloth to fit the needs of his Movistar teammate, the maglia rosa Richard Carapaz.
On the 2015 Giro, Landa lit up the final week before his challenge unravelled when he was ordered to sacrifice his chances in favour of Astana teammate Fabio Aru. On the 2017 Tour de France, his aggression was reined in just as he was climbing more fluidly than his Team Sky leader Chris Froome.
‘Free Landa’ went the slogan, and Landa even dressed in prisoner’s garb for a Halloween party to hammer home the point. He duly transferred to Movistar in search of liberty at the end of that season, though the presence of Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde suggested that autonomy was by no means guaranteed in his new environment.
With neither Valverde nor Quintana on duty at this year’s Giro, Landa began the race as Movistar’s stated leader, but that status became more nebulous when he fell behind Carapaz during a trying opening week. Since Carapaz took hold of the pink jersey at the weekend, Landa has had to take up his chains all over again.
On the Mortirolo on Tuesday, Landa performed his supporting role perfectly, carefully pacing Carapaz on the mammoth climb. 24 hours later Anterselva, however, Landa opted to leave the race leader’s side on the final climb when he launched a blistering attack 3km from the finish.
In the process, he picked up 12 seconds on Carapaz and 19 on Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). It leaves Landa in 4th place overall, 3:03 behind his teammate and now just 47 seconds off a podium place.
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