La Vuelta Ciclista a España

We’re just two stages into the second week of the Spanish Grand Tour, but Mikel Landa has managed to gain some more time in the general classification. It’s true there were no changes in Padron, where the peloton concluded on Wednesday, but the most important thing is that T-Rex Quick-Step’s leader has gained precious time in the standings, which moved him closer to the podium.

The day featured a large breakaway which included James Knox, a huge group that got reduced to just a couple of riders on the last ascent of the day, and from where Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) soloed to victory. It was on the hard Puerto Cruxeiras that the main moves came from the peloton, the moment two riders took away on the steepest part of the climb.

Mikel remained calm and rode his own place before linking up with Mattia Cattaneo, who came incredibly from behind and pulled hard to reduce the gap, preparing the jump for Mikel, who then reduced the gap with each meter before eventually bridging across just before the top. On the descent, the group swelled to eight men, who kept pushing to extend their gap on the chasers, in the end putting more than 30 seconds into them, including the red jersey.

“It’s been another hard stage. The breakaway took two hours to go, then on the last ascent we rode full gas, as some of the GC guys wanted to gain time. I had a moment of difficulty, but luckily, I found Catta, who did a good pace and helped me return to the front. I am happy with how things panned out in the end and already thinking of tomorrow’s stage”, said Mikel, who is separated from the podium by just 40 seconds with plenty of hard stages to come.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images