Mikel Landa Meana was born on 13 December 1989 and is a Spanish professional road cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Team Bahrain Victorious.
37 Facts About Mikel Landa
2.
Mikel Landa won a stage of the 2014 Giro del Trentino before riding the Giro d'Italia as one of Fabio Aru's mountain domestiques.
3.
In 2015, Mikel Landa attacked from a breakaway on the final climb of the day to win the fifth stage of his home race, the Tour of the Basque Country.
4.
Mikel Landa rode the Giro d'Italia, again initially as a domestique for Aru.
5.
On Stage 8, the second mountain top finish of the race to Campitello Matese, Mikel Landa finished second after following an attack by Aru, and then unsuccessfully chasing after leader Benat Intxausti in an attempt to win the stage.
6.
On Stage 14, a 59.4-kilometre individual time trial, Mikel Landa was caught on the road by Contador, losing over three minutes to him, and dropped to seventh overall, 4 minutes 55 seconds back.
7.
Contador then counter-attacked, with Mikel Landa proving stronger than Aru, who was unable to follow the move.
8.
Mikel Landa rode away on the final ascent to Aprica, winning his second stage in a row by 38 seconds over Kruijswijk and Contador.
9.
Aru finished 2 minutes and 51 seconds behind, and thus Mikel Landa moved ahead of his teammate to second overall.
10.
However, on Stage 19 it was Aru who proved the stronger of the two, attacking on the final climb to Breuil-Cervinia and taking 1 minute and 18 seconds on Contador and Mikel Landa, who did not respond to his move.
11.
On Stage 20, the last mountain stage, Mikel Landa attacked on the Colle delle Finestre, taking the Cima Coppi for crossing the highest point of the race in the lead as he crossed the summit with Ilnur Zakarin, a minute ahead of Aru and a minute and a half ahead of Contador.
12.
However, Mikel Landa waited for Aru on the descent, and the pair were unable to take sufficient time from Contador on the remainder of the stage, before Aru attacked on the final climb to Sestriere to win the stage.
13.
Mikel Landa rode the Vuelta a Espana again in support of Aru, after Astana's other leader Vincenzo Nibali was disqualified on the second stage for holding onto a team car.
14.
Mikel Landa won the mountainous stage 11 from Andorra la Vella to Cortals d'Encamp from the breakaway, ignoring team orders to drop back and assist Aru.
15.
However, Mikel Landa did work for Aru during the rest of the race as Aru traded the race lead with Tom Dumoulin, and played a key role in the decisive move on stage 20 when he and Aru dropped Dumoulin on the penultimate climb before being joined by teammates from the breakaway to ride away from Dumoulin, who lost over three minutes and thus the Vuelta to Aru.
16.
In September 2015 Mikel Landa confirmed that he would join Team Sky for the 2016 season.
17.
Mikel Landa then rode his home race, the Tour of the Basque Country, where he won the second stage to take the race lead.
18.
Mikel Landa led Team Sky at the Giro del Trentino in his last warm up race before the Giro d'Italia.
19.
Mikel Landa won Stage 2 to take the race lead, and successfully defended it on the following two stages despite attacks from Astana duo Tanel Kangert and Jakob Fuglsang to take overall victory by a single second over Kangert.
20.
Mikel Landa abandoned the Giro d'Italia part-way through Stage 10 after being hampered by illness overnight and being diagnosed with viral gastroenteritis.
21.
Mikel Landa was named in the start list for the Tour de France.
22.
Mikel Landa helped Chris Froome win the race for a third time by acting as a mountain domestique.
23.
Mikel Landa was able to remount and continue, but he finished almost 27 minutes down on the stage winner, Nairo Quintana.
24.
Mikel Landa finished third on Stage 14 and won his second Cima Coppi on Stage 16, beating Igor Anton to the summit of the Stelvio Pass.
25.
Mikel Landa was caught by Vincenzo Nibali on the descent from the final climb and the two remained clear to the finish in Bormio; Nibali out-sprinted Landa for the stage victory, but Landa took the lead of the mountains classification.
26.
Mikel Landa finished second again on stage 18, losing by a bike length to Tejay van Garderen, but won the following stage to the ski resort of Piancavallo, securing an unassailable lead in the mountains classification.
27.
Mikel Landa was named in the start list for the Tour de France, initially as a mountain domestique for Chris Froome.
28.
On Stage 12 which finished with a short steep climb to Peyragudes, Mikel Landa finished fourth, five seconds behind stage winner Romain Bardet whilst Froome came seventh, 22 seconds down on Bardet.
29.
On Stage 13, Mikel Landa was part of a four man breakaway with Warren Barguil, Quintana and Alberto Contador.
30.
Mikel Landa ultimately placed fourth behind Froome, Rigoberto Uran and Bardet, finishing just 1 second behind Bardet in third.
31.
On 15 August 2017, it was announced that Mikel Landa had signed with Movistar Team for a two-year contract, commencing in 2018.
32.
Mikel Landa again finished in the top ten overall at the Tour of the Basque Country, ahead of the Giro d'Italia.
33.
On stage 5, Mikel Landa was involved in a crash within the final 5 kilometres.
34.
Mikel Landa entered the 2022 Giro d'Italia with intentions of a high place in the general classification.
35.
On stage 17 Mikel Landa launched the final attack of the stage among the GC riders.
36.
Almeida and Nibali were both dropped by over a minute as Mikel Landa lost a few seconds to Hindley and Carapaz at the end of the stage.
37.
Mikel Landa was able to gain about thirty seconds over Carapaz but Hindley dropped them both and essentially won the Giro.