| MIKEL LANDA LEADS TEAM BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS AT CLÁSICA DE SAN SEBASTIÁN, CIRCUITO DE GETXO AND VUELTA A BURGOS 2021. |
Team Bahrain Victorious lines up for its first UCI WorldTour races after Tour de France and Olympics at the two Classics Basque races. The 40th edition of Clásica de San Sebastián will be held on Saturday, 31st July. The race is marked by steep climbs in the mountains of the Basque Country, culminating in the ascent of the Murgil Tontorra before the finale, a descent into San Sebastián. The route adds up to 223.5 kilometres.
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The following day Circuito de Getxo, with the 76th edition departing from the esplanade of the Guggenheim Museum. Last season’s participation was spectacular since this Basque race was one of the first in the renewed summer calendar after the pandemic and Damiano Caruso was the winner. There will be seven exciting circuits of racing in 193 km. The week of racing is capped off at the Vuelta a Burgos, on which the team will race across five stages in preparation for the final Grand Tour, Vuelta a España. Landa leads the team making his comeback after crashing out of the Giro. Damiano Caruso returns after his second place and Giro stage win. While Gino Mäder and Mark Padun return following stage wins at Tour de Suisse and Dauphiné.
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| Mikel Landa: “After the crash at Giro d’italia, my period has been quite hard. I was very motivated for the Giro and in excellent shape. Then with that crash, my goals finished as well. It has been a very hard period. First of all, I had to recover physically after the surgery due to broken ribs and the collarbone. Then mentally, it has also been a difficult period because you have to stop suddenly, knowing that you need more time to be 100% recovered. After one month more or less, I started riding the bike and get back on the road with hard training, so my intensity has not been too high until last week or two weeks ago. I attended altitude training camp trying to get a better shape, and I’m feeling better and better by the day. I’m a little bit far from my best shape now, so the first races starting with San Sebastian, Getxo and Burgos, will be quite hard for me. I don’t have too much racing speed in my legs, and I think these races will be good for me to improve my shape. I hope to be much better and in good shape until La Vuelta. At the moment, I don’t know which objectives can be realistic for me for La Vuelta Espana. Maybe stage wins, maybe GC. Let’s see it day by day because every day is a lot for me, where I believe I can improve a lot and get a clearer picture of the upcoming racing objectives. So, lets’ race!” |
Neil Stephens, Sports Director at San Sebastian and Getxo : “Our team management has done a fantastic job in finalizing the teams for the Spanish races coming up with all the issues to put things together after Tour de France, Olympics, etc. It isn’t easy to keep the guys in form. We have a great mix of guys, and Matej MohoriÄ will be coming from Tour de France. He is a standout rider with two stage wins at Tour de France, and certainly, he worked hard to maintain his form coming into San Sebastian and Getxo. Along with that, I think we have a second wave of riders who are getting ready for La Vuelta. Mikel Landa is the star of our team and worked hard through his injury to get ready for these races. His first race will be San Sebastian, and he will also be racing together with Mark Padun, who did some great and exciting races and results in June. He has been working hard for these races. We are at one crossroad as a team at the moment in a post-Tour de France period. Still, I’m sure that we’re getting ready for the Spanish races, and as I’ve said, our management has put together an excellent lineup. We will be in the mix, especially for San Sebastian, a bit more than the Getxo race, which will be more like a preparation race for the other races coming up. We’ll give it all our we have at San Sebastian and hopefully be around for the Getxo race”. |
Gorazd Štangelj, Sports Director at Vuelta a Burgos: “We are expecting an exciting race with our key rider Mikel Landa leading Team Bahrain Victorious. We will definitely get a more clear picture of Mikel’s shape after San Sebastian and Getxo. We want to approach Vuelta Burgos with high intensity and try to put Mikel back in the best possible racing mode and good rhythm. We will also have Damiano Caruso, Gino Mäderand Yukiya Arashiro coming back from the Olympics, who will also be polishing their form for La Vuelta, and they have to uprise their form smoothly. We will be there without huge expectations, but we want to race great and put on high-quality performances on the road and make good co-operation, duties and positioning of the lineup for La Vuelta. Stages 3 at Burgos (Cathedral – Burgos Castillo – 161 km) and Stage 5 (Comunero de Revenga – Lagunas de Neila – 146 km), both having Hors Category finishes will be two decisive mountain stages, and the other three stages are more breakaway and sprint stages. I am sure we will have great racing at Vuelta a Burgos. ” |
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Team Bahrain Victorious lineup for San Sebastian and Getxo races: Santiago Buitrago / Kevin Inkelaar / Mikel Landa / Matej MohoriÄ / Domen Novak / Mark Padun / Stevie Williams
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| Team Bahrain Victorious lineup for Vuelta a Burgos: Yukiya Arashiro / Damiano Caruso / Kevin Inkelaar / Mikel Landa / Gino Mäder / Mark Padun / Stevie Williams |
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