For the second time in three days, Mikel Landa (Team Sky) endured a tricky stage on the climbs of the Giro d’Italia, in theory the terrain that favours him the best.
Landa had already briefly been gapped on a steep, unclassified climb near Praia a Mare on stage 4. At the time he told Cyclingnews he had “not had his best day” but had managed to regain contact relatively quickly - despite Astana’s efforts to open up that gap.
On Thursday’s stage 6, however, at the race’s first summit finish at Roccaraso, Landa again looked to be a little on the back foot, although he remained with the main group of favourites throughout. Furthemore, having crossed the line in 14th place and 21 seconds down on race leader Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), the Basque climber’s time loss was minimal. And as on stage 4, Landa finished in the same group as the top favourite for the Giro d’Italia, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). He is currently in 15th overall, 1:08 behind Dumoulin.
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Never one to beat around the bush, Landa told a small group of reporters after the stage, “I didn’t have my best feelings today, for the last few days I’ve not been feeling too great. But thanks to the team I’ve managed to come through all right.
“It was a difficult stage but I’m optimistic about the future and I’m sure that in a couple of days I’ll manage to get better and get those great feelings back and be in the thick of the battle again.”
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