La Vuelta Ciclista a España

Mikel Landa will enter the first rest day of his home Grand Tour sitting in fifth overall after an insanely hard stage nine, which featured Alto de El Pulche and a double ascent of Alto de Hazallanas. Both climbs featured stinging double-digit ramps that wreaked havoc in the peloton, who got reduced to around 15 men by the time they crested Hazallanas for the first time, trailing the breakaway by almost seven minutes and without a team properly controlling this margin.

So hard – in part, also because of the weather – was this 178.5km stage to Granada that, unlike Saturday, the decisive attacks missed almost completely, the selection being made instead only by the change of pace on the last hurdle of the day. Briefly distanced at one point, Mikel Landa kept his calm and soon found his rhythm, displaying his indomitable spirit as he rejoined the favourites’ group, who were doing their best to tame the savage gradients and reduce the gap to lone leader Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates).

What they couldn’t do on the climb was possible on the long descent, where the GC men worked well together and cut their deficit to less than four minutes by the time they arrived at the finish. There, Landa still had something left to produce a solid sprint that almost netted him third place after almost five exhausting hours in the saddle. This helped Mikel cement his position in the standings, where he was already sitting fifth overall after Saturday’s fine outing on Cazorla.

“I am content with the fact I could stay in the main group. At the finish, I even tried to take some bonus seconds, but O’Connor was a bit faster. Nevertheless, it was a good day in some hard conditions, and to be able to defend my GC place gives me a good feeling as it’s something that I will carry into the second week of the race”, explained Mikel in Granada.

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