Longstanding Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue says that Giro d’Italia contender Mikel Landa (Team Sky) and the corsa rosa are extremely well suited to each other, given Landa’s spontaneous, unpredictable style of racing and the Giro’s equally unpredictable nature as a race.
Speaking to Cyclingnews during the Giro d’Italia’s three days in the Netherlands, Unzue offered a detailed analysis both of his own star contender, Alejandro Valverde and of Valverde’s rival, Landa.
First up for discussion, though was Valverde, and so far Unzue is more than pleased with how the 2009 Vuelta a España winner performed in the Apeldoorn time trial, and in his Giro d’Italia debut in general. The Spaniard’s strong performance in the opening stage was “not a surprise in some ways”, Unzue insisted, and indeed, it’s often forgotten that Valverde won the Spanish national time trial championships in 2014.
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“But his time trial was a surprise in other ways given how difficult it is in a time trial, to get a top result, when we saw how thoroughly the specialists had really done their homework and their riders hogged the top spots in the classification too.”
Valverde, “did a good time trial, but he went much stronger in the first half than in the second, and in a short time trial like this one, you’re virtually obliged to calculate your strength very carefully.” So rather than racing so hard in the fast part, Unzue felt Valverde could have been more consistent throughout the stage, “but it would not have changed very much, two or three seconds gain or loss at most.
“Of course these differences are risibly small in comparison to what kind of gaps are established in the mountains. But after doing well in the time trial, he’s got a bit of an advantage on the climbers already and that’s a good thing, it helps us all stay calm.”
- Valverde prepares to do battle for victory in his first ever Giro d'Italia
- Giro d’Italia: Brailsford confident about Landa’s chances of overall success
- Giro d'Italia 2016 race page
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