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

Race details

1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
4:52:37
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
1:23
3 Aleksandr Vlasov
BORA - hansgrohe
1:24
4 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
1:38
5 Lenny Martinez
Groupama - FDJ
1:43
6 Chris Harper
Team Jayco AlUla
1:44
7 Egan Bernal Gómez
INEOS Grenadiers
1:47
8 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
1:49
9 Wout Poels
Bahrain - Victorious
2:03
10 José Manuel Díaz Gallego
Burgos - BH
2:03
17 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
2:25
28 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
2:58
34 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
3:10
77 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
7:57
91 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
10:11
149 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
17:17
1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
9:03:57
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
1:35
3 Aleksandr Vlasov
BORA - hansgrohe
1:38
4 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
1:56
5 Lenny Martinez
Groupama - FDJ
2:01
6 Chris Harper
Team Jayco AlUla
2:02
7 Egan Bernal Gómez
INEOS Grenadiers
2:02
8 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
2:07
9 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
2:21
10 José Manuel Díaz Gallego
Burgos - BH
2:21
26 Ilan Van Wilder
Soudal Quick-Step
3:16
32 Mauri Vansevenant
Soudal Quick-Step
3:28
38 Jan Hirt
Soudal Quick-Step
3:42
66 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
8:15
73 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
10:29
102 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
17:35
1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
18 pt
2 Nick Schultz
Israel - Premier Tech
10 pt
3 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6 pt
4 Xabier Isasa Larrañaga
Euskaltel - Euskadi
6 pt
5 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
6 pt
6 Jimmy Janssens
Alpecin - Deceuninck
5 pt
7 Aleksandr Vlasov
BORA - hansgrohe
4 pt
8 Stephen Williams
Israel - Premier Tech
4 pt
9 Simone Petilli
Intermarché - Wanty
4 pt
10 Egan Bernal Gómez
INEOS Grenadiers
3 pt
1 Tadej Pogačar
UAE Team Emirates
29 pt
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
20 pt
3 Aleksandr Vlasov
BORA - hansgrohe
16 pt
4 João Almeida
UAE Team Emirates
14 pt
5 Lenny Martinez
Groupama - FDJ
12 pt
6 Samuel Fernández García
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
10 pt
7 Chris Harper
Team Jayco AlUla
10 pt
8 Kenny Elissonde
Cofidis
8 pt
9 Jimmy Janssens
Alpecin - Deceuninck
8 pt
10 Jambaljamts Sainbayar
Burgos - BH
6 pt
1 Lenny Martinez
Groupama - FDJ
9:05:58
2 Pablo Castrillo Zapater
Equipo Kern Pharma
0:27
3 Antonio Tiberi
Bahrain - Victorious
0:47
4 Johannes Kulset
Uno-X Mobility
1:00
5 Cian Uijtdebroeks
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1:02
6 Valentin Paret-Peintre
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
1:36
7 Raúl García Pierna
2:12
8 Darren Rafferty
EF Education - EasyPost
3:14
9 Georg Steinhauser
EF Education - EasyPost
5:02
10 Jorge Gutiérrez Gonzalez
Equipo Kern Pharma
5:58
11 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
6:14
18 Antoine Huby
Soudal Quick-Step
15:34
1 UAE Team Emirates 27:16:42
2 Movistar Team 2:22
3 Soudal Quick-Step 2:49
4 Bahrain - Victorious 3:34
5 INEOS Grenadiers 3:47
6 BORA - hansgrohe 4:48
7 Lidl - Trek 5:09
8 Burgos - BH 5:35
9 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 5:43
10 Array 5:47

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