The Basque rode himself onto the overall podium of the World Tour event after just two days.
Mikel Landa produced a huge ride in terrible weather conditions at the Volta a Catalunya, finishing runner-up on the first mountain top finish of the week and putting himself in contention for a place on the overall podium of the competition, one of the oldest on the calendar.
The rain battered the peloton Tuesday afternoon, especially on Vallter 2000, a draining 11.4km climb averaging 7.2%, which made its sixth appearance in the last twelve editions. This, and the temperatures stuck below five degrees Celsius on the first-category ascent, made it a gruelling day in the saddle for the riders and opened some big gaps between the general classification favourites.
With two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) in a league of his own and alone at the front after attacking with seven kilometers to go, the most exciting narrative of the stage was the fight for the podium places, a contest between the eight riders making up the group behind. Mikel Landa led the chase for a brief moment before deciding to launch a powerful acceleration that caused some significant damage.
Initially, a handful of his companions could follow, but when the experienced Basque went for the second, and then for the third time, only Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-hansgrohe) could hang onto his wheel. Despite the gradient stiffening towards the top, the tenacious Landa continued to attack, to dig in and dig deep in order to maintain a high tempo and increase the advantage over the chasers, and after all this incredible effort, still had something left lift himself from the saddle and ride the Russian off his wheel in sight of line to take a spectacular second place – his 27th top three finish in a World Tour race.
“I am really happy with my result, but also with the feeling I had today. Before the race I didn’t know what to expect or what my shape would be, so to take second here in these conditions is great, better than expected. We are in a good position now and we will fight to remain on the podium of the competition and to get a stage win”, Mikel explained after the stage.
Photo credit: ©David Ramos / Getty Images
