Mikel Landa is prepared to fight for the 2017 Tour de France podium but underlines that assertion with the considerable caveat that he would only do so if it did not affect the chances of Sky teammate Chris Froome.
Froome himself praised Landa's move in Friday's breakaway, which pulled the Basque star back into potential overall contention as he regained nearly two minutes and moved up from seventh to fifth. Froome said that Landa's presence gives Sky two cards to play in the GC battle.
Even so, this is the first time that Landa has stated clearly how high he thinks he could go in the Tour, after his participation in the Giro d'Italia as a GC contender disintegrated when he and co-leader Geraint Thomas crashed into a badly parked police motorbike.
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Although Thomas abandoned, Landa raced on through the Giro, racking up the mountains classification title and a stage win. He is now deep into his second Grand Tour of the year.
Speaking to Spanish radio on the morning of stage 14, Landa confirmed what he had told Cyclingnews earlier in the race: "I started off very cautiously, not sure how I would go and taking things day by day. But right now I'm feeling really good."
Landa confirmed that Sky now has two GC options and that Froome was pleased with how he had raced on stage 13, working with Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) to open up a gap of nearly three minutes on the yellow jersey - and the Briton - before ending the stage with a lead of just under two minutes.
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