Few would dispute that crashing is one of bike racing's occupational hazards. But spare a thought for Soudal Quick-Step rider Mikel Landa, who suffered what must be one of the least pleasant ironies at yesterday's Itzulia Basque Country stage – being taken out by the race doctor's car and being forced to quit the race.

The incident was compounded by the fact that it happened on a high speed descent. It was close to the finish, however, and the Spaniard was able to ride to the end of the stage, which was won by French phenom Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM). After being assessed in hospital later, it was decided that Landa would leave the race.

The driver of the car, named as Santiago Bianco, has been removed from the race and fined 500 Swiss francs.

In a statement, the team said: "Following an incident on Tuesday’s stage two of Itzulia Basque Country, Mikel Landa was taken to the hospital for medical examination.

"Thankfully, the results did not show any breakages or long-term damage, and Mikel was able to have a peaceful night’s rest. However, it has been decided that it is best that he withdraws from the race in order to allow his body to recover fully.

"Everyone at Soudal Quick-Step wishes him a speedy and full recovery."

On Tuesday night Soudal Quick-Step team CEO Jurgen Foré bemoaned the lack of apology from the race and called the incident "infuriating".

Speaking to Belgian outlet Het Nieuwsblad, he said: “The doctor’s car simply knocked Mikel Landa off the track on a narrow and fast descent. And we haven’t received a single apology. He was 10 seconds behind the group ahead... What is a doctor supposed to do to catch up with riders then?

He added: "It is sometimes infuriating! We do everything for safety, and then things like this happen. As a team, you are left with nothing, but you still take the brunt of it. Mikel is in the hospital; hopefully, he doesn’t have any fractures.”

The narrow and sinuous mountain road, which undoubtedly made driving on the race a challenge, also saw a fan knocked over, reportedly by a race motorcycle.

Landa, 36, has twice finished runner-up at Itzulia Basque Country and is due to ride the Giro d'Italia next month. Seixas continues to lead the race on GC.

Mikel Landa has become the latest casualty of a disastrous edition of Itzulia Basque Country, abandoning the race with a broke collarbone.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider followed his team leader Remco Evenepoel in leaving the Basque race with a fracture, with Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) also among those forced to leave the race.

Landa crashed with 94km to go on stage five, along with his teammate Gil Gelders, who also abandoned, and the Movistar pair of Gonzalo Serrano and Pelayo Sánchez, both of whom were forced to quit as well.

"During an accident on stage 5 of Itzulia Basque Country, Soudal Quick-Step riders Mikel Landa and Gil Gelders were involved in a crash, forcing both to leave the race," a statement from Soudal Quick-Step read. "Gelders was given medical attention on the spot and was treated for abrasions.

"Mikel, runner-up at the Volta a Catalunya last month, was taken to the local hospital where X-rays revealed that he has suffered a fracture to his clavicle. He will now undergo further investigation to determine the best path for his recovery. We wish both riders well."

A horror crash at Itzulia Basque Country on Thursday saw three of the favourites for the Tour de France - Vingegaard, Roglič  and Evenepoel - hit the deck.

Vingegaard was the worst affected of this trio, suffering a collapsed lung, a broken collarbone and "several" fractured ribs. 

Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) suffered a cervical and two thoracic spine vertebral body fractures, while Steff Cras (TotalEnergies) also came away with a collapsed lung, broken ribs and a two fractured vertebrae.

The week had already seen other major withdrawals, with Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease a Bike) and David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) among those heading home early from the Basque Country.

It is uncertain how long everyone affected will be sidelined for, but Evenepoel said he thought his long term goals would stay the same - meaning he would still be targeting the Tour de France.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, former Vuelta a España stage winner Nicolas Roche said that cyclists should not have to "risk their life if they hope to perform".

The two-time Irish national road champion said that he has "come to fear" for his friends who are still racing, and suggested that higher speeds and better braking power is partly to blame.

Romain Grégoire of Groupama-FDJ was the winner of stage five in a reduced bunch sprint.

Mikel Landa spoke full of confidence and optimism about his prospects for the final week of the Giro d'Italia during the Bahrain-Victorious rest day press conference on Monday, suggesting there is plenty of time for the race to turn on its head in the closing stages.

Sitting just 59 seconds behind race leader Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) in the Giro GC standings ahead of the stage 16 mountain stage from Salò to Aprica, Landa is dreaming of securing his first overall Grand Tour victory at this year's Giro. 

“We’re about to start the third week," Landa said. "I’m one minute away from the pink jersey and I think everything is going according to plan.

“I’d like to be as high as possible on the podium. I’ve dreamed many times of racing and winning the Giro and at the moment this year there are still options, so let’s keep dreaming.”

Having achieved a career-best overall finish of third at the Giro in 2015, the 32-year-old is hoping to stand on the upper steps of the podium. With stages 16, 17 and 20 all containing especially gruelling climbs in the mountains, Landa argues he is perfectly suited to make inroads on the other GC contenders. 

Landa spoke very positively about Tuesday's stage, from Salò to Aprica, with long forgotten climbs making their way back onto the Giro route. First, riders climb Goletto di Cadino - last tackled in 1998 on the occasion of the victorious ride of Pantani in Montecampione. From there, they will make their up Passo del Mortirolo.

Finally, the race will ascend Valico di Santa Cristina, last passed in 1999, as they reach Aprica. For Landa, Tuesday's stage seems one he has targeted as a potential decisive day.

“It’s going to be a super hard day, with 5,000 meters of climbing. The Santa Cristina is a very steep climb,” he said. “My experiences of the Mortirolo have always been good. I’ve got good memories and I’m always happy to see the Mortirolo, so that’s an extra motivation.

“I think that Tuesday and the day after to Lavarone, even though they aren’t summit finishes, have very hard finals, so they could be the ones that suit me best. And Saturday’s stage too to the summit of the Fedaia. I prefer these longer climbs at high altitude, and very hard stages coming consecutively should be better for a rider like me.

"I’m feeling good. I think we’ve finally reached the most suitable part of the course for me, and the team is also in good shape, so I’m happy about that.”

Despite his confidence, though, the Spaniard also suggests all it takes is one moment for a Grand Tour to be won or lost. Consequently, the final week could throw up some dramatic moments in the hunt for the maglia rosa, and he will no doubt hope to capitalise on any opportunities presented to him. 

“I think there could be a lot of surprises this week," Landa said. "Every stage could turn the general classification upside down because there are consecutive hard stages where there can be differences. 

"So, maybe one day we’ll see a great performance from a rider, then the next day he might lose time, and then the next day be good again. I think we’re going to have an interesting week."

Mikel Landa does not feel the pressure from the success of his teammates at Bahrain-Victorious and despite underperforming himself he still hopes for a grand tour win in 2022. 

The Spanish rider has won just one race for Bahrain, the 2021 Vuelta a Burgos, while his team has gone from strength to strength. 

Bahrain-Victorious lived up to the latter part of their name, achieving stage wins in each of the grand tours this year, podiums on general classification at the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España, and winning the rescheduled Paris-Roubaix.

Speaking to the media from a training camp on Sunday, Landa said: “Last season was a great one for Bahrain-Victorious, but I never feel exceptionally under pressure to perform. The more riders there are winning and doing well on GC, the better for the squad."

He was clear that the team wants to build on their breakout year: “This season has been super good, so we have to find continuity and then improve, try to improve year by year.”

Landa’s season was badly affected by a serious crash on stage five of the Giro, during which he sustained a fractured clavicle and ribs. He had to undergo surgery following the accident, which forced him to withdraw from the race.

Following the incident, Landa was largely anonymous at the Vuelta a España until he abandoned on stage 17, while his teammates Jack Haig and Gino Mäder starred. Landa did not avoid the fact that his 2021 was “difficult”. 

However, Bahrain have re-signed him until 2023, putting faith in his GC abilities. In fact, it is the first time that he has spent more than two years with one team since he left Euskaltel - Euskadi in 2013. In that time, he has had two year spells at Astana, Team Sky and then Movistar.

For 2022, his one wish is to have “good health”. 

“I always need a bit of luck, but if I am healthy then I can give my best,” he said. “Last year I had a very difficult season because of the Giro, so my one goal is to be competitive throughout.”

"I still want to be better and better so I have to find that continuity, improve year by year,” he added.

Since joining what was then Bahrain-McLaren ahead of the 2020 season, Landa’s time at the team has been affected by the pandemic and then by injury. His fourth place at the 2020 Tour de France pointed to a consistency that the Basque rider hopes can return, however. 

His big objective for the season is to race the Tour, and he named this as the grand tour he would like to take part in. Meanwhile, the Giro could also suit him with its low volume of time-trialling, at just 26.3km on the planned route. 

Landa explained: “Having so little time trialling makes it [the Giro] a great opportunity. I don't know whether I'll do one or the other, but ideally, I'd like to be in both."

The Spanish rider named a win at a grand tour as his aim next year, despite only finishing on the podium of one once: the Giro in 2015. He has however finished in the top ten of the Giro and the Tour six times.

His preparations for the new season are reasonably lightweight. "I've done a few changes on the TT bike, but nothing more special than that," he explained. "With a training camp now and another in January, it all goes around pretty quickly and hopefully I'm going to be in a good place when it comes to starting the year.

“My off-season has been relaxed like always, some holiday… I think I’m ready to again be in good shape for 2022.”

Mikel Landa has abandoned the 2021 Vuelta a España after struggling to find his top form. 

The Bahrain Victorious rider came into the race with a very strong team and optimism after he took the overall title at the Vuelta a Burgos, but that quickly faded as it became clear he did not have the legs to stay with the best riders at the race.

Landa abandoned on stage 17 after going on a solo move to try and get across to the day's breakaway.

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In a statement posted by his team, Landa said: "I have not been feeling at my best over the past week, and since the Giro injury, it has been a long road to recover and be ready for this race. 

"In Burgos, the feeling was good, but a Grand Tour is a different race."

Landa crashed out of the Giro d'Italia on stage five where he broke his collarbone as well as several other fractures meaning he did not race again until Clásica de San Sebastián in late July.

"Today [stage 17] I tried to get the feeling with an attack to go in the break, but I still was not feeling good." Continued Landa.

"I now need to focus on the following goals and get back to my best. I wish the guys and Jack [Haig] to keep going strong and fight for the podium in GC."

Haig is currently the team's best-placed rider in fourth place at 3-46 behind race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma). However, he is currently 35 seconds off Miguel Ángel López (Movistar) and the podium.

Gino Mäder is also in the top ten for the team after putting in a brilliant performance over the first two and a half weeks with Wout Poels and Damiano Caruso also performing well.

Stage 18 of the Vuelta a España is another mountain stage from Salas to Altu d'El Gamoniteiru with the brutal final climb coming after 162.6km.

Mikel Landa revealed that he had no confidence in himself heading into stage three of the Vuelta a España 2021. 

Landa seemed like he was on top form when he sent his entire Bahrain Victorious team to the front of the peloton to pace up the Picón Blanco, with two-time Critérium du Dauphiné stage winner Mark Padun doing the lion's share of the work.

Speaking after the stage, as reported by Cycling News, Basque climber Landa said: "The stage was long and tough, with a lot of headwind - This also had consequences for the course of the stage. We decided to climb the final climb at a brisk pace to see how I felt."

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The high tempo set by the team meant that only David De La Cruz (UAE Team Emirates) put in any sort of major attack with Brit, Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) following the Spanish rider.

"The conclusion is that I am happy with the feeling and with how the final went." Landa continued. "I had no confidence in the stage at all, but I was still able to follow the best riders."

Landa managed to take ninth on the stage which moved him up into 10th in the general classification, 1-09 behind surprise leader Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) and just 39 seconds behind favourite Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma).

"My goal is to get through the next few days as best I can and I believe in that a lot more now." He added.

"I am sure that I will improve in the coming stages. I can now believe more in my own chances."

Some race favourites such as Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo), Aleksandr Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Romain Bardet (DSM) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) all lost time to Landa and co. 

The fourth stage of the Vuelta goes from El Burgo de Osma to Molina de Aragón over a 163.9km route with a uphill sprint likely to be on the cards. GC favourites will have to stay close to the front to avoid any gaps.

Mikel Landa took his first win in two years as he claimed the overall victory at the 2021 Vuelta a Burgos, the final preparation race before the upcoming Vuelta a España.

The Bahrain-Victorious rider's sixth on the final uphill stage five was enough to catapult him to the top spot as DSM's Romain Bardet crumbled, having started the day 45 seconds ahead of the then second-place Landa.

EF Education-Nippo's Hugh Carthy won the stage, going clear on the double-digit gradient up to the summit finish, having tried for the stage yesterday but being reeled in by the bunch.

The Brit finished five seconds ahead of Movistar's Einer Rubio, while BikeExchange's Simon Yates took third, Egan Bernal fourth.

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The uphill finale provided a brand new top three for the final general classification, Fabio Aru's top 10 finish on stage five enough to boost him up to second overall, 36 seconds behind Landa, while it was the Spaniard's team-mate Mark Padun who climbed up to third to round out the podium.

“I wasn’t really feeling that great to be honest,” Carthy admitted after taking his victory. “I was at the back all day and towards the end I was moving up, little by little, gaining places in the peloton.”

“This is the greatest way to finish the Vuelta a Burgos, especially with Hugh as he gets ready for the Vuelta a España," said EF sports director Juanma Garate. "We were here as practice with more or less the same guys that are going to be at the Vuelta and we had some good practice in the wind and as a team but we didn’t have any results until today.”

Landa is expected to join Carthy on the start line for the Vuelta a España, which starts in a week's time on Saturday August 14, with the likes of Jumbo-Visma's Primož Roglič and Ineos' Egan Bernal the two pre-race favourites for the overall title.

Mikel Landa suffered multiple fractures in a bad crash on stage five of the Giro d’Italia, forcing him to retire from the race. 

UPDATE: Mikel Landa suffered multiple fractures in Giro d’Italia crash, team confirms

The Bahrain-Victorious rider went down hard when a handful of riders hit a traffic island at high speed in the closing kilometres of the sprint stage into Cattolica, leaving him unable to continue the race.

Landa came off worst in the crash, which also involved stage four winner Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates), and the Spaniard was taken to hospital for treatment.

On Wednesday evening (May 12), Bahrain Victorious confirmed Landa suffered a broken collarbone and multiple rib fractures on his left side. 

The 31-year-old general classification hopeful, who shined on the first hilly stage of the race the previous day, was kept in hospital overnight for observation but has remained conscious and “in good spirits” since the crash.

A statement from his team said: “After showing his GC ambitions with the first attack amongst the favourites on stage four, unfortunately, Mikel Landa sustained injuries in a crash on stage five, which will see him no longer take part in the race.

“In the final kilometres of the race, Landa was taken down in a crash involving three other riders after a collision at a traffic island. Landa has been taken to Riccione Hospital, where he is receiving treatment for a broken collarbone and multiple ribs on his left side. Landa will spend the night in the hospital under observation and undergo further investigation.

“Landa remained conscious throughout and is in good spirits to get back on the bike as soon as possible.”

Stage five, a pan-flat and arrow-straight run through the Emilia-Romagna region to the coast, was mostly uneventful until riders entered the finish town of Cattolica, where a number of crashes upset the GC race.

>>> Five talking points from stage five of the Giro d'Italia 2021

The first rider down was Ineos Grenadiers co-leader Pavel Sivakov, who went down when he was pushed wide and hit a tree at the side of the road.

Sivakov was able to finish the stage, but abandoned the race on Wednesday evening with shoulder injuries.  

Ewan as quick as ever to claim stage victory   

Any doubts about Caleb Ewan’s form were categorically put to rest after a devastatingly fast sprint saw him win stage five.

On stage two he was caught well out of position, and on the following day he was dropped out of contention on the climbs, but despite these problems there’s clearly nothing wrong with his finishing kick. 

What was most impressive about his win today was how he recovered from coming into contact with Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix). While the clash was enough to end Merlier’s chances, Ewan not only managed to keep his balance, but also get back up to speed to in succession fly past Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Elia Viviani (Cofidis) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos).

The difference in speed between Ewan and the others was extraordinary, and suggests there could be more wins to come at this Giro d'Italia if he can again get into a position to sprint. 

But whatever happens from now, it’s mission accomplished for Ewan, who’s aim this year is to win at least one stage in all three of the Grand Tours. 

Landa crashes out 

A largely uneventful stage burst into life in the worst possible way as crashes blighted the finale, with Mikel Landa being the most high-profile victim.

A piece of road furniture about 5km from the end brought a premature end to what was shaping up to be a very exciting race for the Spaniard.

Landa looked both in great form and eager to make an early impression at yesterday’s stage, where his attack sparked the action among the GC favourites on the final climb, and he gained time over all but four of his GC rivals. 

The signs were that Landa (who has promised so much since finishing third at the 2015 Giro, but has yet to make a Grand Tour podium since) had one of the best opportunities of his career to win a Grand Tour, especially with a strong and committed Bahrain-Victorious team all-in to support.

But as four of the team’s riders who had dropped back to help him reached the finish, they were without Landa, who abandoned the race and had been taken to hospital via an ambulance to treat what was said by his DS to be either a damaged wrist or shoulder. 

The team at least has Damiano Caruso and Pello Bilbao to fall back on for a GC challenge, but for Landa this was yet another bitterly disappointing end to a Grand Tour.  

Nizzolo the eternal bridesmaid 

What does Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) have to do to win a Giro d’Italia stage?

The Italian narrowly missed out on crossing the line first as Caleb Ewan stormed past him with just metres to go, having also finished second in the previous bunch sprint of the race on stage two.  

This is hardly a new situation Nizzolo finds himself in. Extraordinarily, he’s now finished runner-up at Giro d’Italia stages on eleven different occasions, and on the podium another five occasions, without yet ever having won a stage.

His runner-up spot today and the twelfth-place finish of Tim Merlier does at least put him in the lead of the points classification, but there’s an irony in the fact that he remains incapable of winning a stage despite centring all his efforts in trying to do so, while inadvertently leading a classification he isn't even really trying to win — he did not even bother going for points at the intermediate sprint on stage two.

His ongoing struggles to win a stage could become one of the subplots of this Giro, and no doubt the whole of Italy will be willing him to at last achieve what he’s now spent years trying for.  

Blow for Ineos Grenadiers as Sivakov out of GC contention   

As well as Landa, yesterday’s stage winner and current King of the Mountains leader Joe Dombrowski (UAE Team Emirates) also came down in crashes during the finale.

Unlike Landa, both were able to finish, but did so battered and bruised having lost whole heaps of time on GC. 

This was especially bad news for Ineos Grenadiers, who had hoped Sivakov would remain high up on GC in order to provide a viable plan-b option should anything happen to Egan Bernal. 

Given his form at the Tour of the Alps, where he finished second on the queen stage and sixth overall, a high overall placing here looked on the cards, but there’s no chance of that any more now that he’s lost over thirteen minutes. 

The 23-year-old had similar misfortune during his last Grand Tour appearance at the Tour de France last year, where he crashed hard and lost over ten minutes on the very first stage, but still dug deep to battle on all the way to Paris. 

The best he and Ineos Grenadiers can hope for now is that he can recover from whatever injuries he sustained (the TV cameras revealed a cut on his right arm) and provide support as a domestique in the mountains.  

A quiet intermission between GC battles 

It’s fair to say that stage five was, apart from the finishing sprint itself and the unwanted drama of crashes, a bit of a bore. The wind didn’t blow enough to become a factor, and the absence of any climbs meant there wasn’t the same intriguing battle between the breakaway and the peloton, and between the pure sprinters and Peter Sagan’s Bora-Hansgrohe, that characterised the stage won by Taco van der Hoorn (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux) a couple of days ago.

But now that’s out the way, tomorrow we can enjoy a renewal of the GC battle that burst into life yesterday with the race’s first proper mountain top finish. 

If yesterday’s climb to Sestola is anything to go by, then four GC contenders are currently stronger than the rest: Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo), Alexander Vlasov (Astana-Premier Tech), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) and Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo). 

But as the first and so far only uphill finish of the race, it’s far too early to draw many conclusions from that, especially given how short the climb was, and the unusually cold and wet weather. 

>>> Giro d’Italia 2021: Caleb Ewan says stage win a relief as he targets victory in all three Grand Tours in a single season 

Stage six's climb of San Giacomo should give us a better indication. At 15km long, it is the first lengthy climbing test of the Giro, and therefore more emblematic of the kind of climbs that will ultimately decide the fate of the pink jersey. If the hierarchy that formed at Sestola forms again and the same riders who came out on top there again go well here, we can really start to talk about them as potential winners of this race. 

One thing is for sure: there will be far more action and excitement than stage five...we promise.  

Mikel Landa has been forced to leave his role as president of the Euskadi Foundation due to a "conflict of interest", having saved the organisation in 2017.

The Bahrain-Victorious rider stepped up to help save the Basque cycling outfit, Fundación Euskadi then riding the 2018 season on the continental level before stepping up to ProTeam level last year, and it is this ascension back up the ranks that the UCI apparently has a quarrel with.

The cycling governing body's regulations do not permit Landa to be president of an organisation while also racing for a rival team, with Landa and Euskaltel-Euskadi set to be in the same peloton at the upcoming Tour of the Basque Country.

The 31-year-old is said to have been left "saddened and upset" by the decision, according to Basque newspaper Noticias de Navarra, and does not agree with the UCI's actions.

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The professional cycling arm of the Euskadi Foundation had ridden at the WorldTour level until 2013, Landa racing as part of the orange squad during its last three seasons.

With Euskaltel getting back on board as headline sponsor last year, the team's presentation ahead of their first season back at ProTeam level was held at the phone company's headquarters. Although Landa wasn't present, a video message featuring the rider was played for those in attendance. According to the Basque newspaper, this detail was one that didn't go unnoticed by the UCI, and it is said to have wanted Landa to put distance between himself and the foundation for some time.

The paper says the rider will continue to be the "beating heart" at the centre of the organisation, which also includes a women's and amateur team, albeit not in an official capacity.

As well as riding their second season at ProTeam level, the Euskaltel-Euskadi are said to be setting their sights on a wildcard entry for the 2023 Tour de France, after the Basque port city Bilbao was announced as the location of Grand Départ, the first to be held in Spain since 1992.

The UCI has been approached for comment.

Mikel Landa has been hit by a car during a training ride.

The Spaniard posted a photo on social media showing him in hospital but giving a thumbs up to indicate he has escaped serious injury.

The 30-year-old says he was out training with a friend when a car hit them from behind.

He will soon take the start line for his first race with new team Bahrain - McLaren, having transferred from Movistar, and that he will hope to resume training in a few days time.

The 42-year-old driver of the Renault Megane has apparently been arrested and is believed to have caused another crash earlier in the day, Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo have reported.

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"This morning while training with a friend, a car rammed us from behind, on the run," Landa said. "Early tests confirm that everything is fine. I'm hoping in the next few days to get back to training."

Bahrain - McLaren's signing of Landa was announced on August 5, with the climber one of a number of notable signings made by the team, orchestrated by new team principal Rod Ellingworth, who had moved over from Ineos.

These signings are Wout Poels from Ineos and Mark Cavendish from Dimension Data, with the sprinter set to begin his season at the Saudi Tour in the first week of February.

Landa will likely target the yellow jersey of the Tour de France, having finished in the top 10 for the past three editions, coming closest as part of Team Sky in 2017 when he finished fourth.

He is the second WorldTour rider in the space of a week to be hospitalised in a hit and run incident. Deceuninck - Quick-Step's Mikkel Honoré was rushed to hospital after being struck by a car during a training ride. Luckily, he's already back on his bike and continuing his training for the season ahead.

Last week a driver was fined €200 after a Danish youth rider was killed in a collision during a time trial.

The driver said she did not see signs warning oncoming traffic of the race taking place before colliding with 18-year-old Byskov Sarbo.

Mikel Landa has abandoned Il Lombardia in what was his last race for Movistar.

The Spaniard climbed off with 62km remaining as he began the climb to Muro di Sormano, with Bob Jungels (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) simultaneously launching an attack to bridge the gap to team-mate Remi Cavagna, Fausto Masnada (Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec) and Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) up the road.

Movistar still have Alejandro Valverde as a hopeful for the win, who will face stiff competition from Egan Bernal (Ineos) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) as the racing intensifies as the peloton approach Como.

At the time of writing the reason behind Landa's abandonment had not yet been announced by Movistar.

The 29-year-old has started all four previous Italian one-day races this past week, the Giro dell'Emilia, the Gran Premio Bruno Beghelli, Milano-Torino and Gran Piemonte, but has not finished any of them.

Mikel Landa will move to Bahrain-Merida in 2020 after two years with the Spanish team, rejoining Rod Ellingworth who he worked with previously during his time at Team Sky.

Basque rider Mikel Landa moves to Bahrain-Merida in 2020 and leaves behind Movistar where he said the "overlapping objectives" were a problem.

Landa rode with Astana, Sky and Movistar in recent years, placing third overall in the Giro d'Italia and fourth in the Tour de France. At Bahrain-Merida, he hopes to have space to spread his wings.

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"The sports directors we had at the Tour de France deserve credit because they had to manage the race while having three leaders within the same team," Landa told Radio Vitoria.

"I have a good relationship with Nairo Quintana, as with other team-mates, but the problem has been the overlapping objectives within the same sports group."

Quintana won the Tours 18th stage to Valloire. However, he admitted later in the race that he was not in best shape to fight for the overall classification. At that time, the Spanish super-team already spent resources on riding for the Colombian, who is moving to Arkéa-Samsic in 2020.

Landa sat in the back seat with his group of men protecting him and watching rivals like Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal at Team Ineos. He rode to an eventual sixth overall behind Bernal, the race's first Colombian victor.

Since May, the deal with Landa and Bahrain had been spoken of and on August 5, the Middle East team confirmed it. Starting in October, long-time Team Sky Coach Rod Ellingworth will direct Team Bahrain-Merida. Landa already knows him from the 2016 and 2017 seasons with Team Sky.

"I am very excited about the new project at Bahrain-Merida. I'm returning again to a foreign team, but it is something that I have already done before," he continued.

"I think that a good team is going to be formed for 2020 and that I am assured of being a leader in the important races."

Pello Bilbao could be switching from Astana to join Bahrain as well. Star rider Vincenzo Nibali is leaving for Trek-Segafredo.

Nairo Quintana will be racing next at the Vuelta a España, his last Grand Tour with the team. He too recently complained about the many leaders.

"That is the idea, to be able to find a team where I feel comfortable, where they can support me 100 per cent," Quintana told Blu Radio.

Movistar head to the Vuelta a España starting next Saturday with Quintana, Marc Soler, Giro winner Richard Carapaz, and Alejandro Valverde.

"We must wait to see what the team orders will be," Quintana said. "The team also considers all of them leaders."

Landa will race the Tour of Britain next and the Classics through Il Lombardia. Then he will plan 2020 with the Olympic Games in mind.

"It is a very special year. [The Olympics] makes it complicated to ride two Grand Tours like the Giro or the Tour. I love the Giro but the Tour is the Tour," Landa said.

"It is not decided but normally, I'll go to France and have the option of racing the Giro again in 2021. We must finish this season and then we will see."

Bahrain-Merida have announced the signing of Mikel Landa from Movistar, with the Spaniard set to switch WorldTour teams for the start of the 2020 season.

This transfer had been strongly rumoured for a while, with Bahrain-Merida looking to replace Vincenzo Nibali, who will apparently leave the team to sign for Trek-Segafredo.

However, the deal appeared far from completed until very recently, with Movistar boss Eusebio Unzué saying towards the end of the Tour de France that the Spanish team “would like to continue working with him.”

Landa’s arrival comes as Rod Ellingworth was confirmed as the team’s new principal in June, with the 46-year-old now set to go up against his old employers Ineos, who he has been on gardening leave from for the past few months.

Commenting on his transfer, Landa said: “I feel very proud of Team Bahrain Merida who has chosen me to lead this project. I feel really excited for coming challenges.”

Leadership duties have often proved confusing at Movistar, with the Spanish team previously opting to take Landa, Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde as a trio of leaders to races such as the Tour de France.

Other rumoured arrivals at Ellingworth’s new team are said to potentially include Pello Bilbao from Astana as well as José Joaquín Rojas from Movistar.

Movistar had already confirmed Nairo Quintana and Richard Carapaz will leave the team, the Colombian said to be off to Arkéa-Samsic and the Giro d’Italia winner moving to Ineos. 

Going the other way, the Spanish team have signed Gabriel Cullaigh from Wiggins-Le Col and also retained the services of 39-year-old world champion Alejandro Valverde until 2021.

Enric Mas has also been rumoured to be on his way to Movistar from Deceuninck - Quick-Step, with Unzué confirming on the Tour de France’s second rest day he had offered a contract to the 23-year-old.

Current team principal Brent Copeland, who will continue in a reduced role for Bahrain-Merida next season, said: “It is with immense pleasure that we welcome Mikel to our team, he is a rider who brings excitement to racing with his incredible climbing skills which makes him one of the most competitive riders for the grand tours, his consistent results speak for themselves and his exceptional experience is something that we at Team Bahrain-Merida know we can count on.” 

The British Formula 1 team McLaren are set to take a more prominent and active role in the team next season, with one source close to the squad saying there were plans to apply F1-level analytics to cycling and that the squad has ambitions to be “the Han Solo to Ineos’s Darth Vader”.

“With the arrival of McLaren to our team, we believe that Mikel will have even more benefits to take advantage of and this makes everyone at the team very enthusiastic,” Copeland continued. “We are sure the fans are just as excited as we are about his arrival as we all looking forward to cheering Mikel on”.

Nairo Quintana has said his Movistar team are fortunate to be nearly halfway through the Tour having lost as little time as they have, despite Mikel Landa crashing at an inopportune moment on stage 10 that saw him lose two minutes.

"I'd say we're almost lucky to reach this far in the Tour having lost arguably the smallest margin in the last few years against our biggest rivals," said Quintana, who isn't getting carried away with his chances of ending up on the podium in Paris, sitting just 54 seconds off Geraint Thomas (Ineos) in the overall classification.

>>> Movistar left in shock as Mikel Landa crash sends him down Tour de France overall rankings

"I feel like we've got a decent chance," Quintana continued, "it won't be easy, yet we're in good condition and we'll try to play our cards intelligently to make up time and at the time trial do our best to lose as little time as possible.

"We're still eleven stages away from Paris, there’s so much left in this race. There are mountain stages which could suit us really well. The work by our team-mates throughout this race has been really, really good, most especially yesterday, when we were all at the front before Mikel’s crash."

The Colombian believes that Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) won't be able to hold the yellow jersey until Paris, and the race is once again Ineos' to lose.

"After the TT we will seek a strategy to try and get back to the top. With all due respect to Alaphilippe as race leader - we don't really know how far he will go in yellow - the team carrying all the pressure at this moment is Ineos, and we must plan our strategies considering how they will race and tackle the mountain stages."

Quintana did well to find himself on the right side of a split in the peloton on stage 10, with Ineos riding hard to exploit crosswinds and a number of GC rivals such as Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) caught out and losing time.

Mikel Landa (Movistar) had also found himself on the right side of the split but collided with Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) and ended up being shoved off the course and crashing into roadside spectators.

Despite losing two minutes, a severe knock to his GC ambitions after he had shown good form so far this year with a fourth-place finish at the Giro d'Italia, Landa is lucky to not have suffered any serious injuries.

"I felt in a little bit more of pain when I woke up today but fortunately it’s nothing serious, I'm a bit more down when it comes to morale," Landa said. "It’s another tough blow, and another year when we have to bounce back after misfortune.

"I obviously started thinking about yesterday’s crash after the stage: why me? Why was it me crashing? I was feeling so strong, the stage had gone so well for us up until that moment, it would actually have been a good chance to close in on our goal in the race – and you crash once again."

The Spaniard said that as well as continuing to focus on the overall classification, with Quintana now their best bet, Movistar will also plan potential stage wins as Landa may be allowed the room to attack as he is no longer a direct threat to the race lead.

"We’ll have to chase for a stage win and get back into GC contention as soon as possible. I still haven’t digested what happened yesterday, I need some more time to get back into the mood. I haven’t found how to get myself into the race again yet."

Landa expects that others who lost time, including Pinot and Fuglsang, will launch long-range attacks to try and change their prospects, and that this can provide a sizeable shake-up to the race. He is, however, wary that as further stages tick by teams start to defend top 10 positions rather than aspire to move up the general classification.

"There are still many contenders left in this race. Those currently trailing, such as Fuglsang and Pinot, who are strong attackers, will surely try to go from afar and will play a significant role in the upcoming mountain stages.

"Hopefully, with this time lost I will have a chance to attack and be let go further than others. However, the Tour is always hard in that respect: teams defend basically any position, and as soon as you approach 10th place you get teams interested in retaining these positions, so it’s hard to bounce back."

Movistar felt "shock" seeing one of their leaders Mikel Landa fall and lose time due to another rider in the Tour de France.

Landa had made the front group in the crosswinds to Albi with team-mates Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, and rivals including Geraint Thomas (Ineos), but was knocked over by Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic).

>>> Five talking points from stage 10 of the Tour de France 2019

In the big crosswind day, which could have allowed him to jump up in the overall by 1-40 minutes with Thomas, Landa slid 2-09 minutes behind.

Landa arrived to the Spanish WorldTour team's bus clearly upset and banged his handlebars before getting into the vehicle. He did not say a word.

"It was a shock," said team-mate Imanol Erviti. "He had been there, riding in the group, and then on the ground.

"Luckily, he didn't suffer physical consequences, but it's bad news for him and pain, the pain and the rage for a loss of time caused by another, without looking for it."

First, it was rumoured that Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) caused the incident. The Frenchman took to social media to explain, "Really sorry for what happened to @MikelLandaMeana, but please watch again I'M NOT the rider who push him in."

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick-Step), who remains in the yellow jersey lead, explained that Barguil had hit him and then fell the other way and countered his weight off of Landa.

"I'm sad about Mikel Landa's crash," said Barguil in Twitter. "I lost balance when touching the wheel of Julian, I touched Mikel, who went back on the left.

"It went very fast, it was not voluntary. I avoided the fall miraculously, which was not the case for Mikel. I hope he's fine."

Landa, 29, may be fine, but without luck as he tries to win a Grand Tour. On his own, slipping behind, he lost 2-09 minutes to the Thomas group with Quintana and Valverde, and now sits 21st overall at 3-03 behind Thomas.

"What a pity," Valverde said.

"I was scared when they said on the radio: 'Fall of Mikel!' He was on my wheel, very well positioned. I did not know anything about what happened."

The fall adds to others for Landa, including in the 2017 Giro d'Italia when he and Thomas, then Sky team-mates, were taken down by a parked police motorbike.

Landa just came from helping team-mate Richard Carapaz win the 2019 Giro. Now, with the losses, he could be forced to switch to working for Nairo Quintana when the race resumes after tomorrow's rest day with stage 11.

While Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) sprinted to his first Tour de France victory on stage 10, the race will likely be remembered as the day a number of GC contenders saw their chances of glory dashed, after crosswinds decimated the peloton on the run-in to Albi.

Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) were the highest-profile casualties, with Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education First) also caught out as Ineos and Deceuninck - Quick-Step went full gas and splintered the peloton with 30km left to race.

>>> Wout van Aert in disbelief after beating world’s best sprinters on debut at Tour de France

However, one rider with GC ambitions who lost time on the stage at no fault of the crosswinds was Mikel Landa (Movistar), who crashed with 19km to go.

Helicopter television pictures show the front group strung out, trying to gain as much time as possible over the stragglers, when Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) loses balance and swerves into Landa, knocking him off the road.

The Spaniard falls into a group of spectators holding up a sign, which may have softened his fall. However, Landa's day was over as he needed a full bike chang  and didn't receive it in time to join the second bunch on the road, falling in with Giulio Ciccone's third peloton that would eventually roll across the line 2-09 down.

Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) immediately took to Twitter after the stage to rubbish rumours that it was him that caused Landa's crash. "Really sorry for what happened to Landa, but please watch again, I'm not the rider who pushed him."

Speaking after the stage, race leader Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) claimed it was French champion Warren Barguil (Arkéa-Samsic) who caused the fall, although this has not yet been confirmed by either Landa or Barguil.

Barguil then tweeted saying he was sorry about causing the crash, explaining he hit Alaphilippe's wheel in front and then made contact with Landa who was coming up on his left. He says it was a miracle he wasn't brought down in the crash.

Ineos' Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal, as well as Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) all finished in the front group, with Thomas now second on GC, 1-12 behind Alaphilippe.

After Tuesday's first rest day, stage 11 provides another flat day for the sprinters before the race heads uphill and the GC battle will commence.

Geraint Thomas is the boss at Team Ineos as he rides the 2019 Tour de France to defend his 2018 title, according to former team-mate and current rival Mikel Landa (Movistar).

Thomas began as Ineos' only former Tour winner after Chris Froome's crash and broken femur, but Ineos selected 22-year-old Egan Bernal as co-leader among their eight-man roster. As the stages tick by, however, Thomas looks consistent and ready to defend his title.

>>> Double difficulty: Can Geraint Thomas buck the trend to win back to back Tours?

On the Planche des Belles Filles climb, Thomas blasted up to and ahead of Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quick - Step), gaining time on his general classification rivals. A sign, perhaps, of things to come in the Pyrenees and Alps.

"It was a strange climb and the classification contenders only moved in the last kilometre. It's hard to make too many conclusions, but it's clear that Thomas is strong," Landa explained.

"The thing that stood out the most is that Thomas is very good. It's been awhile since we've seen him like this but he's confirmed he's the rider to beat."

Thomas's run to the Tour de France has not been simple. The Welshman admitted he celebrated his victory well into the winter and carried extra weight. He showed his punch in the Tour de Romandie, but a crash forced him out of the Tour de Suisse early and another crash on the first stage of the Tour raised eyebrows for some.

Without Froome and with Thomas's ride on La Planche des Belles Filles, some think differently about his chance to defend his title.

"For Thomas, we'll see if it's different for him because he is now the clear leader. He won last year, and it's obvious he is in very good shape. He is like last year," Landa added.

"Ineos is not the same without Froome. Froome was the last four-time winner, he was very strong. Froome never failed. They are also very strong now, so we will see.

"They have Thomas and Bernal, it's going to be very difficult. We saw small differences. It is still a long Tour. Anything can happen."

The Basque rider hopes that he achieves at least a podium in this year's race. Riding for Team Sky, he finished just one second off the podium in 2017. In 2018, he joined Movistar and worked alongside Nairo Quintana. On stage six of the 2019 Tour, before Thomas started riding away from his rivals in the final metres, Landa had attacked and looked strong.

The Spaniard now sits 54 seconds behind Thomas in the overall classification. "Day by day, we're all going well, there are still not big differences between the favourites. The Pyrenees will be a different story," Landa said.

"It's true that we are closer than in other years, it's all still very close for the overall battle. The race is still wide open.

"It's obvious that the [stage 13 Pau] time trial is not in our favour, but we have to defend as well as we can. Right now we feel good, and we can aspire to reach the podium, and who knows – maybe more."

Landa comes to the Tour after riding the Giro d'Italia, where he rode to fourth overall. He lost the podium spot in the final day's time trial, finishing eight seconds behind Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) in third.

"We'll see how the Giro affects me," he continued. "It doesn't worry me right now because I finished the Giro well and I am good coming into the Tour. It's obvious that we have to attack to make up the time."

Mikel Landa will be looking for attacking opportunities to make up time in the 2019 Tour de France.

The joint Movistar leader launched a trademark move early on the final climb of stage six, La Planche des Belles Filles, but his effort was in vain as he was swept up without gaining time.

But the Basque rider is confident in his strength, despite having ridden to a top-five finish in the Giro d’Italia just weeks before the Tour.

>>> Was the Planche des Belles Filles gravel finish a success? Riders have their say

“It’s obvious that we have to attack to make up time,” the 29-year-old said.

“Right now we feel good and we can aspire to reach the podium and, who knows, maybe more.

“We’ll see how the Giro affects me. It doesn’t worry me right now because I finished the Giro well and I’m good coming into the Tour.”

La Planche des Belles Filles was the first general classification test of the Tour de France 2019 and it was a brutal one.

There were plenty of casualties in the newly added final gravel kilometre of the climb, Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) the biggest loser with Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) also losing time.

Movistar were the dominant team on the final climbing, setting world champion Alejandro Valverde to work at the front of the bunch to support Nairo Quintana and Landa to the top.

Landa took on the attacking roll, pulling out a 20 second advantage over the GC favourites but being caught before the top. He showed his form however by finishing within 10 seconds of the best overall contenders at the summit.

Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) was the standout GC rider on the climb, pulling away from rivals in the final 500 metres to take a handful of seconds and finish fourth on the stage.

But Thomas may have made himself a target with such a strong performance in the first week of the Tour.

>>> Watch: André Greipel celebrates surviving La Planche des Belles Filles with cyclocross celebration

Landa said: “The thing that stood out for me is that Thomas is very good. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him like this but he’s confirmed he’s the rider to beat.

“It was a strange climb and the GC contenders only moved in the last kilometre. It’s hard to make too many conclusions, but it’s clear that Thomas is strong.”

Landa now sits 17th overall at 1-43 down on race leader Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), with his co-leader Quintana two seconds better in 16th place after a lacklustre team time trial performance on stage two.

Mikel Landa (Movistar ) blew the group of favourites apart in stage 13 and gained 1-41 minutes at Lago Serrù, a "morale boost going forward" to the next mountain stages in the 2019 Giro d'Italia.

The Basque rider shot free with 15.7 kilometres to race in the 20km climb to Lago Serrù at 2247 metres.

"From the car they told me on the radio that the gap was around a minute and a half," Landa explained.

>>> ‘We’re not here to make excuses, Yates couldn’t follow’, says Mitchelton-Scott director

"Together with the half minute gained at Pinerolo [stage 12], I have to be happy, especially because I saw my rivals a little weaker and more accessible, which gives morale going forward."

Landa shot free in a well-orchestrated move by the Spanish WorldTour team. He linked up with Hector Carretero and Andrey Amador who were in the earlier escape with eventual stage winner Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha-Alpecin).

"I am proud of the work and sacrifice of my helpers," he said. "They made a great effort on my behalf, I cannot complain at all about the result.

"Montoso [in stage 12] seemed more difficult to manage than Lago Serrù with an attack from distance, and this Saturday we have another opportunity on the way to Mont Blanc."

Landa lost time earlier in the race due to a crash and the time trials. Today, his 1-41-minute gains put him further in the mix. Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) leads the race, but Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) is the top favourite to win the overall next weekend in Verona. Behind him, Landa is at 2-43 minutes.

After attacking on stages 12 and 13, Landa promises more of the same.

"Although from the beginning it was complicated by the time I lost in the time trials and the enormous strength of my opponents. A lot of us want to win, and only one can be crowned as the winner of the Giro on the last day," he continued.

"I'll continue to attack until the legs hold. I hope my energy holds until Verona, but it seems too soon to speak. The Giro can change easily from one stage to another, and I must go from day to day. The good thing is to have confidence from good performances. I will continue in this way, no doubt about it."

The Giro d'Italia's fourth stage ran under rain but the tempers were hot when it finished in Frascati, so much so that Mikel Landa's flash comment on Simon Yates made headlines.

Spanish site AS reported that Movistar's Basque captain cursed Yates and called him "an idiot" for "going crazy" into a roundabout and then crashing. Landa apologised hours later via his Twitter account.

>>> Giro d'Italia 2019 route: stage-by-stage analysis 

Landa, speaking to Cycling Weekly, said he didn't stand by what he'd said, saying: "I'm not happy to see that. I didn't say it. I apologise."

>>> Riders pulled from Giro d’Italia and Tour of California as UCI publishes names linked to blood doping scandal

Landa followed Yates, who won the Vuelta a España and led the Giro d'Italia for 13 days last year, in the final 10 kilometres of the fourth and longest stage.

"Every crash happens for some reason, nobody is guilty, but I think we have to be very careful on the road [because] we can [suffer]," Landa continued

"Yates slid, I was right behind him and I crashed too, but it was nothing. It wasn't his fault, not that he was going crazy [on the bike]."

Landa lost 42 seconds on the stage to race leader Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), a manageable distance compared to Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) who lost 4-02 minutes before abandoning the following day. Yates lost 16 seconds.

Landa in 2017 won the mountains jersey and a stage in the Giro d'Italia and went to the Tour de France to place fourth while helping then Sky team-mate Chris Froome win. This year, Movistar gave him the leadership role in its Giro team.

Landa arrived at the bus upset with the day and began to complain about the day to a journalist.

"I didn't say that [he was an idiot]. I got to there to the bus. He asked what happened, and I said, 'Yates! He crashed on the ground.' I said, 'It was stupid.'"

Later, Landa saw the headlines and he responded in Twitter. He said, "I felt bad, and I wanted to get out that Tweet."

Landa had a smile on his face despite the heavy rain in Frascati this Wednesday morning ahead of stage five to Terracina. Tom Dumoulin began the race too, despite bang his knees and suffering a cut from a chainring. The Dutchman climbed off  just 1.5km into the stage.

"I'm OK, I have a little pain but it's normal after a crash, but it's nothing special," he said.

"Why these crashes? I don't know, we are a lot of leaders, everyone wants to be at the front. There's not the space for everyone, also there are team-mates working. Too many people want to be in the front position."

Mikel Landa (Movistar Team) took aim at Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) after the Giro d'Italia riders arrived scraped and bruised. The Spaniard later apologised for remarks made against Yates.

Several crashes marred the fourth stage to Frascati, south of Rome. Yates fell and lost time, and Movistar team leader Mikel Landa broke his bike in half in his crash.

>>> Tom Dumoulin concedes ‘GC is gone’ after disastrous crash on Giro d’Italia stage four

"F***ing Yates, who's an idiot and who was going crazy," Landa told AS. "He took me down in the roundabout."

Yates had said he was fighting for position going into a roundabout at six kilometres remaining in the 235-kilometre stage. He did not mention Landa.

>>> Giro d'Italia 2019 route: stage-by-stage analysis 

Landa survived other incidents but finally fell victim. With his Canyon bike smashed, he had to climb on team-mate Lluis Mas's bike.

Salvatore Puccio (Ineos) touched wheels with another rider and triggered a wave of crashes. Sunweb riders, including 2017 winner Tom Dumoulin, and Katusha riders fell during the final, too.

Landa in 2017 with Team Sky won a stage and the mountains classification in the Giro and then placed fourth in the Tour de France. He took aim at Yates.

"It sucks when things happen that do not depend on yourself," the Basque rider added.

"In the time trial, it was my fault, but today I was on the ground due to someone else. It's not how I wanted to start.

"Of course, the sensations are even worse with this disadvantage against you."

Landa had been beside Movistar team-mate Richard Carapaz and race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma). After the crash, Carapaz managed to hold off Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) for the stage win.

"At least some happiness on a bad day," Landa said.

"The crash is no big deal, it's time I've lost again. Now I'm nearly two minutes behind Roglic."

Landa rolled in 42 seconds behind Roglič. It could have been worse considering Dumoulin lost 4-02 minutes. He now sits 1-49 minutes back in the race overall heading into stage five.

Movistar’s hopes of victory at Milan-San Remo rest with Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa.

The Spanish duo will lead their team’s efforts at the first Monument of 2019 on Saturday (March 23), as Movistar lacks a pure sprinter.

While Milan-San Remo often falls to the fastest finishers, recent solo attacks have proven the 291km race can be taken by those with a climbing pedigree.

>>> How far can Egan Bernal go? 

Reigning world champion Valverde is looking characteristically strong this season, having won a mountain stage and finishing second overall at the UAE Tour earlier this month.

His 2019 schedule sees Valverde return to the Italian Monument for the first time since 2016, finishing 15th which is his career best for the race.

It will be his seventh time in the race.

Valverde’s attributes could suit an outside chance at victory in the longest one-day race on the WorldTour calendar.

Last year’s solo victory by Vincenzo Nibali, after an attack on the Poggio, shows that a strong climber can deny the sprinters.

Valverde is traditionally stronger in the Ardennes Classics, having won Liège-Bastogne-Liège four times and Flèche Wallone five times.

>>> Team Sky/Ineos deal likely to be announced on Tuesday with possible name change before Tour

Landa’s chances are slimmer, as the former Team Sky rider returns to the peloton after almost two months away from racing.

The 29-year-old crashed on his first time out this season at the Challenge Mallorca in January, suffering a broken collarbone.

He has been out for 53 days due to injury and will make his return at Milan-San Remo.

Both Landa and Valverde will ride the Giro d’Italia as joint Movistar leaders this season.

Other favourites for this year’s Milan-San Remo include Bora-Hansgrohe duo Peter Sagan and Sam Bennett, Lotto-Soudal’s Caleb Ewan, Elia Viviani (Deceuninck – Quick-Step) and Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates).

Vincenzo Nibali will also return to defend his title.

Movistar’s joint leader Mikel Landa is hoping for a quick return to racing after he crashed out of his first race of 2019.

Landa, who is set to target both the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia this season, was caught up in a crash in the closing kilometres of Challenge Mallorca.

The Basque came down with 15km to go in the first of four one-day races on the Spanish island, suffering a broken collarbone in the fall.

He is expected to undergo surgery within 48 hours of the crash, which happened on Thursday (January 31).

Landa has not finished a race since the final stage of the Tour de France last summer, failing to complete his last seven races due to crashes.

The 29-year-old told Ciclo21: “I’m f**ked up and sad, because I also ended last year on the ground, but you have to look forward.

“The year has just started and I will return. I don’t want to give it any more thought, it has already happened.”

>>> Nairo Quintana persists with ‘Tour dream’ regardless of pressure and critics

Landa formed part of Movistar’s ‘trident’ approach to the Tour de France, alongside compatriot Alejandro Valverde and Colombian Nairo Quintana.

He was the Spanish WorldTour team’s best finisher in 2018, rolling across the line in Paris seventh overall and almost eight minutes down on winner Geraint Thomas (Team Sky).

Movistar are abandoning the triple-threat approach this season, instead sending Landa to the Giro with Valverde and then the Tour with Quintana.

>>> Chris Froome: ‘Egan Bernal can win the Giro d’Italia at his first attempt’

The former Team Sky domestique added: “The main objectives of the year are not changed.

“Now we will have to work a little harder to recover and return sooner, but the Giro and the Tour are not in danger.”

Landa hopes to recover quickly from surgery and be back on his bike in around two weeks time.

The opening day of Challenge Majorca was won by Cofidis rider Jesús Herrada, followed by Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Group Gobert) and Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema.

Valverde came in fourth.

Mikel Landa admits that he missed the Giro d'Italia last year and looks forward to returning to try for the win in 2019.

The Basque rider will lead Movistar in the Giro d'Italia this May 11 to June 2 before turning his attention to the Tour de France, where he will ride with Nairo Quintana.

The programme is similar to 2017, when he rode for Team Sky. Then he won a stage and the mountain classification in the Giro and placed fourth in the Tour helping Chris Froome win.

"It was a bit strange for me. I had been doing that for several years and, yes, I missed it," Landa told Marca about the Giro.

The 2018 season was his first with Movistar after switching from Team Sky. He built up for the Tour and skipped the Giro; the first time to miss the Italian Grand Tour since 2013.

The season saw a trend continue for Landa, where a strong season is followed by a dip. In 2015, he had placed third in the Giro helping then Astana team-mate Fabio Aru to second and won a stage in the Vuelta a España.

"It is true, both in 2015 and 2017 the situation was similar. I hope that in 2019 the story is repeated. In terms of performance [last year], I felt good many times but I wasn't been able to prove it," he explained.

"The desire to attack remains, to shake up the race when you can. I think that I have that still, but with a little more responsibility. I am, at times, a bit more conservative."

He ended the year "frustrated" with a second overall in the Tour of the Basque Country and seventh in the Tour. The crashes, also in the Clásica San Sebastián, took their toll.

"It was a year that I ended the most frustrated," he said.

"But there are still people who trust me and I'll be able to have another great opportunity this year."

Movistar began the Tour with a three-prong attack with Landa, Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. Quintana highlighted the race for the Spanish team with a stage win. In the overall, though, the team suffered.

Landa crashed in the Roubaix, stage nine and lost a bit of spark, finding out later he had fractured a vertebra. He finished seventh overall behind winner Geraint Thomas (Sky).

"Now it hurts more than before, because I know I did half a Tour with a cracked vertebra. But at the same time, it is what encourages me to try again."

He is aiming for the Giro and then going to the Tour. Last year, Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) placed second overall in both races. Froome won the Giro and placed third in the Tour.

In 2019, Landa joins several double riders: Dumoulin, Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) and possibly Thomas.

"I think it's good for me to do both. The Giro is a race that I'm good at, in case I'm not good at the Tour. I would say that it is a more conservative programme rather than a risky one," he continued.

"We've make a good plan until the Giro to do it there as well as possible and then I'll get the most out of my body in the Tour.

"Like in 2017, which went well for me. I will do the same, to try to reach 100% in the Giro and hopefully 99% in the Tour or 101%! [laughs]."

Spaniard Mikel Landa is aiming for both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2019, assuming Movistar will allow him to race both Grand Tours.

Landa placed seventh in the 2018 Tour and when still riding for Team Sky and Chris Froome, fourth in 2017.

"I want to do the Giro and the Tour," Landa told AS. "I'll talk to Eusebio [Unzué, the team manager] and then we'll see what happens."

>>> Romain Bardet takes aim at Giro and Tour de France double in 2019

The 28-year-old Basque rider made his Grand Tour breakthrough in the 2015 Giro by finishing third overall. He was helping then Astana team-mate Fabio Aru, who placed second behind Alberto Contador.

Landa won two Giro stages in 2015 and another in 2017 when leading Team Sky with Geraint Thomas. He also won the mountains jersey that year before going on to place fourth in the Tour.

"I don't think so," said Landa when asked if the Giro could affect his Tour ride one month later.

This year's Giro d'Italia route includes five high-mountain stage finishes. They are packed in the final week third week with the new Croce d'Aune climb the day before the final Verona time trial.

"There have been many mountains in the last week in Italy in recent years," added Landa, "and people go on to do well in the Tour."

This year saw Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) both race the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France for the overall win. Froome won the first and placed third while helping Thomas win the Tour. Dumoulin finished second overall in both the Giro and the Tour.

However, due to the FIFA World Cup in Russia, the 2018 calendar was blessed with an extra week between the two Grand Tours. A tighter turnaround in 2019 could make life harder.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) tried the Giro/Tour in 2017, finishing second in the Giro but suffering in the Tour, finishing 12th overall.

Colombian Quintana would be one of Movistar's two leaders in the 2019 Tour with Landa. The edition features a relatively low number of time trial kilometres that suits the climbers.

Landa is also racing with an eye on 2020 with next year being the last in his current Movistar contract.

"What I achieve in the races will affect my future," he said. "I hope to give headaches to those who have to renew me or those who want to sign me."

Mikel Landa has opted to pull out of the Spanish squad for the World Championships road race as he continues to recover from a fractured vertebra.

>>> UCI Road World Championships 2018: dates, route, where to watch and more

Landa crashed and sustained the injury at the Clásica San Sebastián in August and was unable to return in time to race the Vuelta a España alongside his Movistar team-mates Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana.

The Basque rider returned to racing for the first time on Wednesday at the one-day Giro della Toscana in Italy, but failed to finish.

In a statement, the Spanish Cycling Federation said Landa then contacted national coach Javier Mínguez following the race to tell him that "he still didn't have good sensations on the bike" and that he couldn't compete in Innsbruck on September 30.

Landa will be replaced by Astana's Omar Fraile, who was unlucky to miss out on initial selection after a stellar season which saw him win a stage of the Tour de France as well as stages at the Tour of the Basque Country and the Tour de Romandie.

Fraile will form part of the eight-man road race squad along with a strong line-up including Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Enric Mas (Quick-Step), Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), David de la Cruz and Jonathan Castroviejo (both Team Sky).

The Innbruck course for this year's Worlds will be a brutal affair, but present a rare opportunity for the pure climbers with over 5,000m of climbing in the 265km course.

For the time trial, which takes place a few days before the road race, Spain will send national champion Castroviejo along with one of Marc Soler and of Imanol Erviti filling the other spots. Selection will be decided based on how either rider performs in the team time trial for Movistar, which takes place this Sunday on September 23.

Team Astana is beefing up for 2019 with the Izagirre brothers, Ion and Gorka, and eyes signing GC star Mikel Landa, currently under contract for 2019 with Movistar.

The team of Alexandre Vinokourov already counts on Miguel Angel López but wants reinforcement and a second option for Grand Tours like the Tour de France.

>>> Cycling transfers 2019: All the ins and outs from the WorldTour

"Ion and Gorka are very strong riders and their results are well-known," said Alexandre Vinokourov

"This year Gorka became the Spanish road race champion, while Ion showed some high performances in stage races and at the Tour de France."

They led Bahrain-Merida in the recent Tour de France after Vincenzo Nibali was forced to abandon. Ion placed 22nd and Gorka placed 24th.

"In Astana we are ready to help the brothers to do another step ahead in their career and to lead them to new, higher results," added Vinokourov. "I believe that their potential has not yet been fully disclosed and we are ready to do everything necessary for them to be fully realised."

Ion, 29, raced with Euskaltel-Euskadi and Movistar, winning the 2016 Tour's Morzine stage. He joined Bahrain-Merida in the team's first year in 2017. Gorka, 30, moved to Bahrain-Merida in 2018. Racing for Movistar, he won the Giro d'Italia's Peschici stage in 2017.

Colombian Miguel Angel López is leading the Astana team in the 2018 Vuelta a España after placing third overall behind Froome and winning the youth castigation in the Giro d'Italia this May. The 24-year-old is under contract through 2020 with Astana.

Basque cyclist Mikel Landa is still under contract with Movistar after having joined the team for 2018 from Team Sky. He helped Chris Froome win the 2017 Tour and placed fourth overall.

There are reports that the multiple leaders in Team Movistar may not suit everyone including Landa. Movistar, for a price, may be willing to let him go to Astana.

"He is a cyclist that I love to have, if it is not possible in 2019, we will try to sign him for 2020," Vinokourov told Spain's Marca website.

"I think he can take the Tour de France overall, and he has potential to develop

"He still has a contract with Movistar and we have to respect it, but it's not hidden that we've talked to him and we'd love to have him under our roof again."

Landa rode for Astana for 2014 and 2015 at Fabio Aru's side before joining Team Sky. In 2015, he placed third in the Giro d'Italia.

"He is one of our most important cyclists," said Vinokourov. "It was a pity he could not go to this Vuelta because he was definitely a candidate to fight for the podium."

Landa was due to race the Vuelta a España, which began on Saturday, but could not after a crash in the Clásica San Sebastián. He is recovering from fractured vertebrae and ribs.

Mikel Landa's will miss the Vuelta a España 2018, starting August 25, his Movistar team have confirmed, after injuries suffered in crashes in the Tour de France and Clásica San Sebastián.

>>> Vuelta a España 2018 start list: Sagan, Nibali, Porte, Quintana among starters

The Spanish WorldTour team announced on Monday that their star Landa, seventh in the Tour, will not take part with other team leaders. Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana should lead the team, while Richard Carapaz is due to take Landa's spot on the team's eight-man roster.

Landa could race the Tour of Britain, starting September 2, ahead of the World Championships.

"We've fought the hardest we could during the last 15 days, trying to make sure Mikel could reach a high degree of recovery, but it wasn't possible," said team boss Eusebio Unzué.

"He's gone through good and bad moments during these two weeks, but we had to make a choice, he just doesn't have sufficient guarantees to go and take the start of the Vuelta."

He suffered fractures in the Clásica San Sebastián – two vertebrae and ribs – that made recovering from the Tour de France impossible.

He fell in the final 20 kilometres of the Basque one-day classic with a group including Tony Gallopin (Ag2r La Mondiale), Pierre Latour (Ag2r La Mondiale), Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo). Landa and Egan Bernal (Sky) were worse off.

Sky's Colombian star suffered a fractured nose and a jaw injury that required surgery.

Landa tried training, but was not able to ride for more than an hour due to the pain.

"Pain in the lumbar zone of his back after the fracture, added to the two broken ribs he suffered in San Sebastián, have combined to make it unfeasible to go to Málaga with the health and fitness he needed," Unzué added.

"We will now focus on making sure he recovers completely, and after that, we'll evaluate if he feels fit enough to take the start of the Tour of Britain. It's an eight-day competition, and it's also a very intense race.

"If he's able to race there, we think he might gain the form he needs so he can be eligible for the Spanish national team in the World Championships."

Movistar have given an update on Mikel Landa's recovery from injuries suffered in a crash at the Clásica San Sebastián, without ruling out a return to action at the Vuelta a España.

Landa was taken down in a crash with just under 20km to go in the one-day race in the Basque Country, with his team confirming a fracture to his lumbar vertebra L1 after initial scans.

Since the crash last Saturday, a second fracture was discovered after an ultrasound on Wednesday, this time a non-displaced rib fracture on his right-hand side. Movistar said the recovery time wouldn't differ his initial injury, which they said would require two to three weeks of complete rest.

Landa has since begun a series of rehabilitation and therapy with the help of medical staff, but it is unclear if the 28-year-old will be able to take to the start line of the Vuelta alongside Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde on August 25.

In a statement, Movistar said: "Under careful monitoring from the Telefónica-backed squad's medical staff and attentions from Javier Barrio, head doctor of the Deportivo Alavés football club, and traumatologist Mikel Sánchez, Landa is following various exercises of breathing mechanics and strengthening of the injured areas, in order to reduce inflammation, ease pain and ultimately fuse the fractures.

"Mikel remains in good spirits and optimistic towards his goal of recovering completely and as quickly as possible."

Landa will be keen to recover in time to take to the start of the Vuelta after a disappointing Tour de France in which he failed to challenge for the overall victory. The Spanish Grand Tour starts with a Prologue time trial on the opening day, with nine tough summit finishes scattered throughout the three-weeks of racing.

Mikel Landa's participation in the 2018 Vuelta a España is in serious doubt after he sustained an injury in a late crash in the 2018 Clásica San Sebastián on Saturday.

The Basque rider was brought down after Ben King (Dimension Data) fell at the front of the peloton on the approach to the final climb with 19km to go. Landa looked in immediate trouble after hitting the ground, and though he remained conscious, was unable to get up as medics rushed to attend to him.

>>> Julian Alaphilippe continues exceptional season with victory at Clásica San Sebastián 2018

He was put in a neck brace and on to a stretcher and taken by ambulance to the hospital in Donostia Hospital, where it was confirmed he had a "fracture without displacement of the spinous process in his lumbar vertebra L1."

His Movistar team confirmed that he would return home and require two to three weeks of complete rest, with the Vuelta a España just a few weeks away, starting on August 25.

The 28-year-old, who had a disappointing Tour de France campaign, was aiming to help deliver an overall win for his team alongside Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. Movistar did not confirm if he would definitely miss the start of the Vuelta.

Meanwhile, Team Sky's young superstar Egan Bernal was also brought down and injured in the same crash. Like Landa, he was unable to move and was loaded on to a stretcher by medics before being moved to hospital.

The Colombian suffered serious facial trauma in the crash which required surgery, with scans revealing a nasal fracture and a maxillary injury. Sky confirmed that he would be assessed by maxillofacial specialists and Bernal later confirmed on Twitter that he had undergone successful surgery.

Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step) won the 221km Clásica San Sebastián, attacking with Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) on the steep final climb before beating the Dutchman in a two-up sprint for the line.

Chris Froome is the top favourite as he heads to the Tour de France to try to win a fifth title, but his former Team Sky helper Mikel Landa says that the Giro d'Italia could weigh heavy in his legs.

Landa, who finished fourth at one second from third place in 2017, will lead the Movistar team with co-captains Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde. The race starts on July 7 in Vendée.

>>> Tour de France 2018 start list

"Froome is the top favourite," the Basque rider said.

"He's won the Giro, he's finished the race in great form and I'm sure he'll be again strong in the Tour. He's won this race four times and will be the man to beat.

"He'll surely start out in great form, but might pay after his efforts in the Giro during the final week. With him aboard, Team Sky will take on the main responsibility at the front of the bunch, just like in previous years.

"However, there are many other favourites: [Richie] Porte, [Rigoberto] Urán, [Romain] Bardet, [Vincenzo] Nibali… I think like there's a field strong enough to not see the race scenario focusing just on Froome."

Landa knows Froome well having raced with him for two years in 2016 and 2017 at Team Sky. Landa at one point in the 2017 Tour appeared stronger and some suggested he should lead the Sky team to Paris. Instead, he rode as a loyal helper and finished just a single second from the podium.

He later said that he was upset with Team Sky for not helping him reach the podium and that he would no longer sacrifice himself when he has a chance to win.

Froome appears unstoppable though. He won the Vuelta a España after the 2017 Tour and, despite an on-going case for asthma drug salbutamol from the Vuelta, he continued into 2018 in charge.

After two crashes, he bounced back from a near-five-minute deficit to take the Giro's pink jersey with an 80.3-kilometre solo ride to Jafferau. He became the Giro's first British victor two days later.

Landa built his season solely on the Tour de France with races and training camps this spring to put him in form starting on day one, a flat sprinter-friendly stage to Fontenay-le-Comte.

"It's been a pretty calm year so far. We planned on reaching an early form peak in the spring to contest the Vuelta al País Vasco and being able to help Alejandro out in the Ardennes Classics, which I didn't really know well. I drew some good conclusions from those efforts, and after that, we started thinking only about the Tour," Landa explained.

He put in a heavier workload in May at altitude for 20 days at Madrid's Navacerrada ski resort. Now he is in the Pyrenees near home, training and previewing the climbs and final Espelette time trial.

"I'll be reaching the Tour de France with 30 racing days under my belt, but more importantly than the figures, the approach to the Tour will be completely different to previous years," continued Landa.

"In the last two years, I had previously ridden the Giro. You come to the start after having reached your peak form just few weeks before, and it's about keeping that fitness alive and staying strong. This time, I expect to keep progressing during the race and hopefully feel quite fresher at the final part of the competition."

Froome, with the Giro in his legs, decided to not race at all this month of June and train specifically at altitude and over some of the Tour's mountain stages.

Team Movistar's Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde and Mikel Landa tackled the cobbled roads used during Paris-Roubaix on Tuesday

The three riders are joint leaders for the Spanish WorldTour team for this year's Tour de France – which features Paris-Roubaix's cobbled sectors during stage nine.

The stage is seen as a key stage after the opening week, with the potential for unwary or unprepared riders to lose time against their rivals. The three riders took on 15 cobbled sectors in their recon ride.

Quintana, Valverde and Landa have raced on the cobbles of northern Europe in the past few weeks to gain experience in race conditions. Landa raced in E3 Harelbeke, with Quintana and Valverde tackling Dwars door Vlaanderen.

Several of their key Tour rivals have also either raced or ridden on cobbled roads this season to prepare for the race.

Valverde put in a strong performance during Dwars door Vlaanderen, placing 11th. He subsequently toyed with the idea of racing in the Tour of Flanders, but in the end elected not to do it.

>>> Mikel Landa: ‘I have to learn the cobbles for the Tour de France’

The Movistar trio were joined in their recon on Tuesday by three team-mates who raced in Paris-Roubaix on Sunday: Imanol Erviti, Marc Soler and Jasha Sütterlin.

Movistar sport director José Luis Arrieta said: "What we wanted here was to get a real feeling about the terrain: how you enter and tackle every sector, which ones of them could be key - it's obvious that it will all be a different story when you're racing and into a furious peloton, but I'm sure this recon will really help us a lot.

"We were also lucky, since we had two days of dry weather, which allowed us covering the entire group of sectors with no setbacks. Taking advantage of all materials we already had here in northern France for Roubaix, we also tested different wheelsets, tyre pressures - it's also about having everyone going into this stage, come July, with absolute confidence about what's best for them.

"All three leaders had already ridden on cobblestones this spring, and even if we know that the hardness of those sections is nowhere near the Roubaix pavé, it's significant for us to have them feeling what it's like to go on a cobbled race."

The 2018 Tour de France runs from July 7-29, with stage nine taking place on  Sunday, July 15, starting in Arras and finishing in Roubaix 154 kilometres later.

Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) won the 2018 Tour of the Basque Country overall on Saturday's final stage, holding on to win by a 1-09 advantage over Mikel Landa (Movistar) in second.

On a short and punchy 122.2km stage featuring eight climbs, Roglič came under severe pressure from Landa's Movistar squad after quickly finding himself isolated with no team-mates, but was able to ride well enough to hold on up the final climb to take victory.

>>> ‘Deep down this is what I love most’: Geraint Thomas relishing brief return to the Classics

Landa had attacked on the final climb with his team-mate Nairo Quintana, but Roglič maturely held back and rode at his own pace up the climb before working with other riders over the flat section to the finish, 42 seconds behind Landa - enough to claim the overall win.

Enric Mas added Quick-Step's third stage win of the week in the Basque Country, attacking from the breakaway at the foot of the final climb.

He quickly gained 20 seconds on the chasers behind, with Quintana attempting to pull him back before Landa tried his luck.

There was nothing they could do to stop him though, and the Spaniard was able to celebrate across the line as he took his first pro win.

How it happened

The short nature of the stage meant riders with no GC ambitions were keen to find their way into the break. But the GC teams were rightly cautious, making sure the right combination of riders were allowed to get out front.

That meant that while dribs and drabs of riders made it out front, it took until 65km to go on the stage for a break to take it's final form, with 14 riders in the front group, including Carlos Verona (Mitchelton-Scott), Lucas Hamilton (Mitchelton-Scott), Tao Geoghegan Hart (Sky), David Lopez (Sky), Jesper Hansen (Astana), Gregor Mülhberger (Bora-Hansgrohe), José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), Carlos Betancur (Movistar), Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Jose Herrada (Cofidis), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha Alpecin).

They reached a maximum gap of almost 3-30 before the peloton gradually pulled them back over the huge amount of climbing on the stage.

Behind in the peloton, Movistar tried their luck with pressuring race leader Roglič, with Quintana and Landa attempting moves, but were marked closely by the yellow jersey.

With 20km to go and 35 seconds back to the peloton, attrition had taken it's toll and the break was now down to four riders: Mas, De Gendt, Mülhberger and Verona.

They looked doomed as that gap continued to close down, with just 10 seconds or so in hand at the foot of the final, brutal climb.

But Mas quickly decided to make his move and was briefly tracked by De Gendt. The 23-year-old's pace was too much for the Belgian though, and he quickly found himself 20 seconds behind.

As the peloton hit the final climb, Quintana was the first to hit out, bridging to De Gendt before going alone, but failed to make many inroads on Mas.

With 4km to go and the steepest section of the climb still to come, Landa then tried his luck and attacked over to Quintana. Roglič was dropped but maintained a steady pace, falling 30 seconds or so behind the Basque rider in second place overall at 1-57.

Third place overall Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) also went clear, but remained between Landa and the Roglič group.

Landa quickly was forced to go solo as Quintana tired, but wasn't able to gain on Mas out in front, eventually finishing 12 seconds down on the Quick-Step rider.

Slovenian Roglič was by now working with a number of other dropped riders on the flatter section towards the finish, and was able to finish the stage comfortably within the overall time gap to Landa at 42 seconds behind.

Results

Tour of the Basque Country 2018, stage six: Eibar to Arrate (122.2km)

1 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors, 3-17-34

2 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team, at 12s

3 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 27s

4 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team

5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 30s

6 Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal, at 45s

7 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 47s

8 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 54s

9 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo

10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, same time

Final general classification

1 Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo, in 20-53-47

2 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team, at 1-09

3 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida, at 1-42

4 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 3-14

5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team, at 3-17

6 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors, at 3-29

7 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo, at 3-50

8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team, at 4-14

9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky, at 4-15

10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 5-30

Spaniard Mikel Landa (Movistar) is racing the cobbles of Northern Europe for the first time to prepare for the Tour de France's Paris-Roubaix stage this July.

The ninth stage, including 15 sectors and 21.7 kilometres of cobbles, could become just as decisive, if not more, as the summit finishes for the mountain men like Landa. To prepare, he is racing the E3 Harelbeke, only his second time to even race in Belgium after the 2013 Flèche Wallonne.

>>> Chris Froome rides Roubaix cobbles in continued Giro/Tour double build-up

"I've never raced the cobbles before," Landa said at the start of the E3 Harelbeke on Friday. "I have some cobbled roads around home, but not like this.

"I have to learn how to take the fastest way over the cobbles. Learn to fight to keep my position. Also try the pressure in the tyres."

Landa raced to fourth overall, one second away from third place, last year helping Chris Froome win the overall title.

Over the winter, he switched from Team Sky to Movistar. He will be one of the team's leaders with Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde this July 7 to 29.

The latter two will race in Belgium's Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday to try the cobbled roads. Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), third in the 2017 Tour, will also race.

"We have an important stage in the Tour de France so I think it's important to learn a little bit how to take the best way on those roads," Landa added.

"A new Tour will start after that stage. It'll be very important. It's going to be a very hard stage. You can lose a lot. It's going to be important to lose nothing."

Landa rode to start line of the WorldTour race in grey and 6°C air with the wind blowing hard off the North Sea. "I'm not worried, I'm here to learn," he said. "I'll try to enjoy the day as much as possible."

Sky's sports director and former Paris-Roubaix winner, Servais Knaven said that Chris Froome should not need to race any of the cobbled races to be ready for the Tour de France.

"It's not going to help you for July racing here," he explained. "It's more important that we do the recon, like we did Wednesday."

Froome previewed the sectors with Geraint Thomas and Jonathan Castroviejo. Landa said that he will join his Movistar team to ride on those sectors after they finish with Paris-Roubaix.

"You have that first contact with the pavé," Movistar sports director, José García Acosta said. "We know that the roads will be important in the Tour de France, but in his career, Mikel has raced very little on them. This is an opportunity to build for the Tour."

Mikel Landa took his first victory for Team Movistar on Saturday in the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race, and says that he could consider moving from Team Sky a 'marginal gain'.

The Spaniard worked for Chris Froome for two years in Team Sky, in 2016 and 2017, and switched to Movistar for 2018 to have more leadership opportunities. On Saturday, he won the queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico to Sassotetto, his first in Movistar's blue colours.

"Maybe I can consider moving to Movistar a kind of marginal gain," Landa said.

"Maybe I'm happier, perhaps that's because of the way we ride. It's better for me, it's a better way for me to ride, as we saw today. It's different, there's less control and more chance to attack."

>>> Mikel Landa wins Tirreno-Adriatico stage four as Geraint Thomas loses overall lead due to mechanical

Landa is now leading his home WorldTour team in Tirreno-Adriatico and is slated to be one of three leaders in the Tour de France this July with Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde.

Last year, at times he appeared stronger than Froome in the Tour de France but maintained loyalty to Team Sky and finished in fourth overall, just one second from third place.

"There is a cultural difference, that's the biggest thing," Landa said of Movistar. "They're closer to my style, my way of doing things... The way we eat and joke."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnZ2JXsP9II

Sky helped popularise 'marginal gains' in cycling with their warm-downs, altitude training camps and racing style. They signed Landa in 2016 after he placed third overall in the 2015 Giro d'Italia with team Astana.

Landa seems to have taken the best of Sky's marginal gains and added Movistar's Spanish familiarity to his benefit. In Tirreno-Adriatico on Saturday, he calmly worked his way up to a lead attack group with Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), and handled himself for the win at 1335 metres.

>>> ‘It’s frustrating’: Geraint Thomas on losing Tirreno-Adriatico lead due to jammed chain

He now sits fourth overall at 20 seconds behind overall leader Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing). He is surrounded by his former Sky team-mates, Michal Kwiatkowski in second at one second and Geraint Thomas in fifth at 26 seconds.

"I'd like to finish on the podium," Landa added. "It's going to be difficult because the others will do better than me in the time trial [on Tuesday] but we'll see what happens in the final stages."

Mikel Landa (Movistar) won stage four of Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy on Saturday, as Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) suffered a badly-timed mechanical on the final climb to lose the overall race lead.

Landa had attacked from the reduced peloton on the final climb on the race's key mountain stage to claim the victory ahead of Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) in third. It's Landa's first victory of the season, and his first for Movistar.

Thomas had a problem with his bike just as the action started to hot up on the way to Sassotetto, and lost valuable time waiting for a replacement machine. He finished the stage 40 seconds down on Landa, and lost the race lead to former overall leader Damiano Caruso (BMC).

Caruso now leads Michal Kiwatkowski (Team Sky) by one second overall, with Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) in third at 11 seconds, with Landa in fourth at 26 seconds. Thomas slips to fifth place at 26 seconds with three stages remaining.

How it happened

The 'queen' climbing stage of the 2018 Tirreno-Adriatico started with an escape group of six riders leaving the peloton.

For the third consecutive day, Nicola Bagioli (Nippo-Vini Fantini) was part of the break as he chased mountain points to extend his lead in the KOM classification and Jacopo Mosca (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) hunted for sprint points. They were joined by Krists Neilands (Israel Cycling Academy), Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Antoine Duchesne (Groupama-FDJ) and Alexander Vlasov (Gazprom-Rusvelo).

>>> Tirreno-Adriatico 2018: Latest news, reports and race info

After 60km of the 219km stage, the break had six minutes over the peloton and the gap then wavered between four and six minutes for the majority of the stage.

Disaster struck for Giro d'Italia champion Tom Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) as he was involved in a crash and was forced to abandon the race after starting the day in ninth place overall. His team later reported that he had suffered abrasions, but no fractures.

Team Sky were shepherding the peloton for race leader Thomas, with the team's Jonathan Castroviejo doing some long turns on the front to keep the break in check.

As the race hit 25km to go, the break still had four and a half minutes in hand – but, of course, with the long final climb to come this was not going to be enough. Mitchelton-Scott started to move to the front of the bunch, followed by Movistar, and the chase really started to hot up.

Mosca was the first to drop out of the break after he took the maximum intermediate sprint points just before the final ascent. And heading into the final 10km, road race world champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) dropped out of the back of the peloton.

Meanwhile, Neilands attacked from the break to go solo up front chased by Vlasov as the rest of the break got mopped up by the bunch.

>>> Tom Dumoulin abandons Tirreno-Adriatico after crash

Astana were at the front of the peloton, with Sky just behind them, and they eventually caught Neilands and Vlasov with 7.3km to go.

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) was the first to break the deadlock, attacking from the front of the peloton with 5.5km to go. This was followed shortly after by a move from Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates), Majka and Ben Hermans (Israel Cycling Academy). The four joined together with 4.3km to go.

Majka looked in aggressive mood, and attacked his fellow escapees. Meanwhile, Landa attacked out of the peloton with 2.5km to go in an attempt to bridge over to the leaders.

Chris Froome (Team Sky) was one of those lost off the back of the peloton into the final 2km, as Landa joined up with Majka, Aru and Hermans up front after Lopez sat up due to cramp.

Landa evidently wanted to press on, taking to the front with Majka, Aru and Hermans fighting to stay on his rear wheel and with a handy 24 second gap over the chasing bunch with 1.5km to go.

Thomas suffered a badly-timed mechanical and was forced to wait at the side of the road for a replacement bike and could only watch his rivals ride away up the road. However, Froome appeared just at the right moment and played super-domestique for Thomas to try and pull him back up into the action.

As Landa put in one last attack to take the stage victory, Froome had left Thomas, with the latter doing all he could to try and minimise his time loss.

Bennett had attacked from the chasing group of riders to get in touch with Landa and Majka up front, but Landa's final kick to the line left his rivals with no answer. Majka was left shouting with disappointment as the crossed the line, with Bennett's huge effort netting him third.

The 2018 edition of Tirreno-Adriatico continues on Sunday with stage five, a lumpy route from Castelraimondo to Filottrano covering 178 kilometres. The race concludes on Tuesday.

Results

Tirreno-Adriatico 2018, stage four: Foligno to Sarnano Sassotetto, 219km

1. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, in 6-22-13

2. Rafal Majka (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe

3. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at same time

4. Fabio Aru (Ita) UAE Team Emirates, at 6 secs

5. Ben Hermans (Bel) Israel Cycling Academy

6. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto-Soudal

7. Romain Bardet (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale

8. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb

9. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott

10. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at same time

General classification after stage four

1. Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing, in 17-14-49

2. Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky, at 1 sec

3. Wilco Kelderman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 11 secs

4. Mikel Landa (Esp) Movistar, at 20 secs

5. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky, at 26 secs

6. Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac, at 31 secs

7. George Bennett (NZl) LottoNL-Jumbo, at 33 secs

8. Davide Formolo (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 34 secs

9. Tiesj Benoot (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, at 36 secs

10. Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Bahrain-Merida, at 41 secs

Speculation may have been rife about a possible rift between Chris Froome and Mikel Landa at last year's Tour de France, but the two men will now have a chance to properly go head-to-head at the upcoming Ruta del Sol.

With Froome's participation having been confirmed last week, Mikel Landa has now been named in the Movistar line-up for the race having made the move across from Team Sky for 2018.

The race will be Landa's first in the new light blue colours of Movistar, where he will lead a team consisting of Andrey Amador, Jorge Arcas, Carlos Barbero, Héctor Carretero, Imanol Erviti and Marc Soler.

>>> Ruta del Sol 2018: Everything you need to know about Chris Froome's return to racing

With Nairo Quintana having finished second overall behind Team Sky's Egan Bernal in the recent Colombia Oro y Paz race in South America, the Ruta del Sol will be Landa's first chance to lay down an early-season marker with both him and Quintana targetting leadership of Movistar at the Tour de France in July.

Watch: Tour de France route guide 2018

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaCHePwsEuk

Landa finished fourth at the 2017 Tour de France, missing out on a podium spot by just one second, after working as a domestique for Chris Froome as the Brit secured a fourth yellow jersey in Paris.

Rumours about his move to Movistar (which was publicly confirmed in August) began to circulate during the race, with Landa arguably fuelling speculation over his future as he looked strong while Froome was dropped on stage 12, before getting in an escape and finishing fourth on the short and punchy stage 13 to Foix.

>>> Luke Rowe confirms return to racing at Abu Dhabi Tour after career-threatening injury

However Landa remained close to Froome as he defended his lead through the Alps on stages 17 and 18, finishing with the main contenders on both of these days.

The Ruta del Sol starts on February 14 and consists of five stages of racing around the region of Andalusia in southern Spain. The race is likely to be decided on the two summit finishes on stages two and four, although there are also likely to be time gaps on the final time trial on stage five.

Mikel Landa (Movistar) will skip the Giro d'Italia to put full his effort into winning the Tour de France and Vuelta a España later in the summer.

Team Sky employed the Basque rider for the last two years to lead its Giro team, before sending him to the Tour as a domestique for Chris Froome. In 2017, he not only supported Froome to a fourth title but also finished in fourth overall, just one second away third place

Having moved to Movistar for the 2018 season, he now wants to take the Tour de France head on and not think about sacrificing himself during a three-week race in May.

>>> Comment: If anyone can win the Giro d'Italia/Tour de france double, it's Chris Froome

"I have ruled out the Giro because I want to get to the Tour in the best conditions, with a first peak in a powerful way, for that there is no other option but to sacrifice the Giro," Landa told the Marca newspaper

In 2017, Landa began the the Giro as co-leader with Geraint Thomas. Both crashed on stage nine after hitting a motorbike parked at the side of the road, but Landa was able to continue to win the Piancavallo mountain stage and the blue mountains jersey.

Watch: Tour de France 2018 route guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaCHePwsEuk

Movistar wants him to race alongside Nairo Quintana , who has twice finished as runner-up to Froome at the Tour, to try to upset the Team Sky rider and wear the yellow jersey in Paris.

With Landa, Movistar may have the winning combination. The situation with Quintana and star helper Alejandro Valverde, however, could cause stress.

"I am indifferent," Landa said of sharing the leadership role with Quintana. "I have already gone through these situations: we both have clear ideas, we both race for Movistar and we will be leaders along with Valverde, the road will decide."

The Tour de France 2018 route includes with a 35-kilometre team time trial on day three in Cholet and a 31-kilometre individual one on the penultimate day.

>>> 'Everyone has their place, and I'm the team leader': Nairo Quintana welcomes Mikel Landa to Movistar

"I like the route because it has a short time trial," continued Landa. "We have a strong team to face Sky. Romain Bardet, Rigoberto [Urán] and I look very much alike. In the time trial we'll be at a similar level."

Landa spoke near Málaga in Estepona, where he travelled to see the 2018 Vuelta a España route presented, a race that he will also aim for in 2018 before targetting the World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria in September.

"It's a tough course, as always in the Vuelta, demanding from the first to the last day. The [final two] stages in Andorra are a bit scary, we'll have to save our strength," he added.

"The stage to Monte Oiz [stage 17] is special, any stage which finishes in the Basque Country is special and if it ends up on a summit, I have even more possibilities. And the Lagos de Covadonga stage [15] is a very tough stage, with a special climb for cyclists, it's mythical in Spain. And of course, Andorra..."

On the penultimate day in Andorra, Unipublic scheduled a similar stage to the one Landa won in 2015 while racing. Just 105km in length kilometres, the stage crosses five passes on its way to a summit finish at Collada de La Gallina.

Mikel Landa says he'd have preferred a 'different' welcome from Nairo Quintana to Movistar after the Colombian said last week that he was the definitive leader of the Tour de France.

Landa leaves Team Sky at the end of 2017 to join Spanish team Movistar in search of more leadership opportunities at Grand Tours, having finished fourth at this year's Tour despite riding in support of Chris Froome.

>>> Giro still a possibility for Chris Froome as he prepares for 2018 season

But he'll still face competition for sole leadership, with Quintana especially keen to take the top step at the Tour having finished second twice in his career already.

In an interview with El Pais last week, Quintana said "I am the leader of the team and I am the leader for the Tour" and that if he had Landa's support at the Tour it "would be a great team to take on strong teams like Sky."

In response, Landa told Mundo Deportivo over the weekend that he'd have liked a warmer reception from his new team-mate, but expected the team to be able to manage both of their egos over the course of the season.

"Obviously, I would have liked to get a different welcome, but I'm going to his house, and from what I can see, it looks like he doesn't like it," Landa said.

"I think that [team manager] Eusebio Unzué will manage our egos well and get the most out of each one."

Basque Landa, 27, emerged as a potential Grand Tour leader in his time with Astana, but found his route to leadership blocked by Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali at the Kazakh team. He took his only Grand Tour podium with the team at the Giro d'Italia in 2015, finishing behind team-mate Aru and winner Alberto Contador, having also taken two stage wins.

In 2016 he moved to Sky with the promise of leading the Giro squad, but illness struck and he was forced to abandon mid-way through the race, before riding the Tour de France in support of Froome.

Watch: Tour de France 2018 route guide

Landa then went into the Giro with shared responsibilities with Geraint Thomas in 2017, but a crash involving a police motorcycle put paid to his chances once again, but he recovered to take a stage win and the King of the Mountains jersey.

He then had to play second fiddle to Froome again at the Tour, but at times looked stronger than the Brit, and managed to race to fourth overall even with his domestique duties.

Despite struggling to find his lead spot at Sky, Landa said that he "learned a lot" riding with Froome and that his time with the British team was "all positive."

He added that he hoped his joint leadership duties with Quintana would help take the pressure of them both and that they can both be much more effective as a pair.

"I think it's an advantage to be able to share responsibilities. It takes a little pressure off me," Landa added.

"Having him on side I think can be very positive and between the two we can do much more harm than individually."

"2017 has given me a lot of confidence and I believe that I have matured a lot as a cyclist and as a person,"

If Mikel Landa had any thoughts that he might lead Movistar at next year's Tour de France, then current team leader Nairo Quintana has moved to nip any such aspirations in the bud, laying down the law for the next 12 months.

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Quintana made it quite clear who would be Movistar's main man for the 2018 season.

"Eusebio [Unzué, the Movistar manager] made the signing, and everyone will have their place," Quintana said. "As the team leader that I am, Landa is well received.

"For us it is a great help in races that I had to do to satisfy the team and the sponsor. Before I had to be there and now there will be one more person covering those kind of races

"That means that I will be in the most important races that I believe will get me in good condition to the Tour."

Watch: 2018 Tour de France route guide

Speculation that Landa would join Movistar from Team Sky rumbled on from June, through the Tour de France, before the move was finally announced in August.

However Quintana said that he hasn't spoken to his future team-mate, and that there would be a meeting with Unzué and Alejandro Valverde at an upcoming training camp.

"We have not had the chance [to talk] yet, but in a meeting we will talk to Eusebio and Alejandro as well," Quintana continued.

"We are happy and calm because we know that Landa is a guy who will contribute a lot to the team."

As for Valverde, the veteran Spanish rider has said that he plans to avoid conflict with Quintana and Landa by skipping the Tour de France in 2018, instead focusing on the Giro d'Italia, Vuelta a España, and the mountainous World Championships in Innsbruck.

The team will likely meet up for its first pre-season camp in November or early December, where riders' objectives for the 2018 season will be agreed with team management.

Mikel Landa says that his two years riding with Chris Froome and Team Sky have made him "stronger and more confident", as he leaves the British squad for Movistar in 2018.

Landa recently helped Froome win the 2017 Tour de France after he himself won a stage in the Giro d'Italia. After the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Movistar have signed him to lead their Grand Tour team next season.

"I feel stronger and I have more confidence in myself," Landa told Cycling Weekly. "I'm a stronger rider than two years ago."

Landa is currently in South China for the start of the Tour of Guangxi, his last race in team Sky's black and blue colours. He joined Sky in 2016 after he previously rode for Astana, for whom he placed third overall and won two stages in the 2015 Giro d'Italia.

>>> Alejandro Valverde hopes to skip 2018 Tour de France as Movistar focus on Quintana and Landa

"I learnt a lot because Team Sky is one of the best teams in three-week races and they have one of the best riders at this moment with Chris Froome," he added. "It's been a very nice experience, but now I have different ambitions and different goals, so I decided to leave the team."

Sky took Landa as co-leader with Geraint Thomas to the Giro d'Italia this year. However, both riders crashed on stage nine and fell out of the overall ranks. Landa salvaged his and Sky's Giro by going on to win a mountain stage and the blue mountains jersey.

He rebounded from the Giro in the Tour de France as Froome's helper deluxe. Insiders started saying that he was so strong that perhaps he would lead Sky when Froome lost the yellow jersey on the stage to Peyragudes.

"Well Spanish fans and press want a new Spanish rider winning the Tour de France and they were starting to create stories, but I was working for Chris from the first day and I don't think it's fair to say that I would've done otherwise."

Landa said that he wanted to be the plan A option in a team. The Movistar deal came about and he jumped ship.

"It's a Spanish team and I think that they bet for me [to join], I'm pretty sure I will have all the support I need," Landa said.

Watch: Best of the Tour de France 2017

"It's true that people are looking for new classification star after Alberto Contador, but it's also very clear that Alberto is a super-class rider and I'm on another level. At the same time, I am happy with where I am. I still haven't won a Grand Tour and I still need to work a lot to get that victory.

"I was very sad with what happened about the crash in the Giro d'Italia because we will never know how the classification could have gone for me and for Geraint Thomas, but we made the best out of it."

"In the Tour, I would've liked to be on the podium, but we went to win the Tour with Chris Froome as leader and the goal from the first day was for him to win and I couldn't hope for anything else."

Landa placed fourth overall in the Tour, one second behind Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r).

British outfit Team Sky have announced their line-up for the final WorldTour event of the 2017 season, the Tour of Guangxi in China, taking place over October 19-24.

Spaniard Mikel Landa will make his final appearance in Team Sky colours, as he heads up a strong team. Landa has signed for Spanish team Movistar for 2018.

Also making a last appearance in Sky kit is Dutch sprinter Danny van Poppel, who will ride for LottoNL-Jumbo next season.

Making a rare racing appearance is Spaniard Beñat Intxausti, who has struggled all year with a viral illness. His last ride for Sky was in the Clasica San Sebastian in September, where he abandoned the race.

>>> Alejandro Valverde hopes to skip 2018 Tour de France as Movistar focus on Quintana and Landa

The seven-man team is completed with British riders Owain Doull and Jon Dibben, Dutchman Wout Poels and Polish rider Lucasz Wisniowski.

This is the inaugural edition of the Tour of Guangxi, which makes its debut in the UCI's top-flight WorldTour calendar. It takes place over six days and features a mixture of flat stages and climbing stages, and no time trial – terrain that should suit Landa and Poels.

Other riders taking part include Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Alex Dowsett (Movistar), Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), Lars Boom (LottoNL-Jumbo), Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) and Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo).

Being the final WorldTour race of the season, the event has significance as the last chance for riders and teams to accrue valuable WorldTour points. Of the 18 teams taking part, 16 are from the WorldTour.

Basque Rider Mikel Landa feels his impulsive style of racing isn't always compatible with Team Sky, who like "to have everything controlled."

Landa will race with Spain's WorldTour Movistar team in 2018, first closing out 2017 with races like the Il Lombardia.

>>> Mikel Landa excited to go head-to-head with ‘best in the world’ Chris Froome in 2018

"It's not easy," Landa said in a Eurosport interview when asked about racing in Team Sky.

"It's a team that likes to have everything very controlled, very tied up, and maybe I'm a little different rider than that. I like to follow my impulses a little, to move more by feelings and sometimes we are not compatible."

Landa, however, delivered Sky a summit stage win and the mountains overall classification in the Giro d'Italia and turned around to help Chris Froome take a fourth Tour de France title.

Early on in the Tour de France this July, it seemed as though Sky needed to reel in the 27-year-old while Froome was still coming up to speed.

Some followers questioned if Landa should have led Team Sky in the early days of the Tour. He showed his loyalty despite already having agreed to join Movistar and placed fourth overall, just one second from third place behind Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale).

"The truth is that my performance was a surprise," he said of the Giro and Tour. "I came from racing the Giro, I did not know how I would respond and as the days went by, I improved."

After the Tour, Landa won the Vuelta a Burgos overall. He is returning after a break to close his career in Sky's black and blue in races Milan-Turin, Il Lombardia and new Chinese race, the Tour of Guangxi.

Sky signed Landa following his work for Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru in team Astana. Landa placed third overall behind Contador and Aru in second in the 2015 Giro.

This summer, he said he wanted to be in a position to call the shots in 2018 and not be plan B. Movistar after the Tour announced that they agreed to a two-year deal.

"I have been abroad for a few years now, with few opportunities," continued Landa. "Now, I'm able to go to a Spanish team and have the opportunity to lead it in the best races in the world."

He will join forces with an ageing, but still strong Alejandro Valverde and grand tour star Nairo Quintana. It is uncertain how Movistar will manage the same high-calibre riders under one umbrella.

"It is an incentive. There are many races and we will try to divide them the best we can. Some of us will agree, others will not, but the calendar is long, the year is long."

Mikel Landa is looking forward to facing Chris Froome, who he describes as "the best in the world", in 2018 when they are no longer Team Sky team-mates.

The Basque rider is switching to Movistar this winter after two years with team Sky. In July, he supported Froome on his way to his fourth Tour de France title and placed fourth overall.

"The battle against Froome will be very hot, putting yourself up against the best of the world in those moments," Landa told the Marca newspaper.

"I am excited for it, but now I want to finish off the season, rest, and start up the 2018 with the same motivation as always."

>>> Mikel Landa 'frustrated' and 'very angry' after sacrificing his own chances at the Tour de France

Landa won a stage and the mountains jersey in the Giro d'Italia after a crash knocked both him and Geraint Thomas out of overall contention. At the Tour de France, he occasionally appeared stronger than Froome and could have led Sky for the win had Froome stumbled.

He returned to win the Vuelta a Buegos overall in August. Though not racing the Vuelta a España, he visited during the rest day Monday to see his friends and the race, which Froome leads by 1-01 over Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida).

Watch: Vuelta a España essential guide

"It does not surprise me that Froome is doing well in both the Tour and Vuelta," Landa said.

"Last year, he missed the Vuelta due to a bad day, but he was the strongest. This year he is on the same form and he is the favourite.

"[Sky] are very powerful, especially considering that the Vuelta is a race that is very difficult to control. They are capable of handling the situation."

The 27-year-old's time with Sky is almost over, just a few end of season races like Il Lombardia remain. He said at the Tour that he does not want to go into races in 2018 and be the second option as he has done at Team Sky and Astana beforehand, but to be the main leader.

At Movistar, he must split the 2018 race schedule with Colombian Nairo Quintana. Quintana has already twice finished as runner-up at the Tour de France and won both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España.

"Nairo is not going to ride all the races, he will divide the schedule. There will be no problem," said Landa. "We haven't spoken yet, but everything will be discussed. We will see the Giro and Tour routes and decide.

"The Giro is more suited to my characteristics, but the Tour is such an important race for a cyclist."

After weeks of rumours and speculation, Movistar have announced the signing of Mikel Landa from Team Sky for the 2018 season.

The 27-year-old will join the Spanish team on a two-year deal from the start of next season, having spent two years at Team Sky.

"It's great news for us," said Movistar general manager Eusebio Unzué. "Being still a young rider and with everything that he's shown, he should be the rider who leads Spanish cycling for the next few years."

After a slightly disappointing 2016 season where he failed to finish the Giro d'Italia, Landa has enjoyed more success in 2017 including fourth place at the recent Tour de France.

He also won the mountains classification at the Giro d'Italia after his GC hopes were scuppered by a crash with a motorbike, and most recently won two stages and the overall at the Vuelta a Burgos.

After speaking of his frustration at having to sacrifice his own chances for Chris Froome, Landa will now join a Movistar team where Nairo Quintana has a contract until the end of 2019, raising questions about who will lead the team at the 2018 Tour de France.

Mikel Landa (Team Sky) secured overall victory in the 2017 Vuelta a Burgos as Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) won the fifth and final stage on Saturday.

Landa won the opening stage to take the leader's jersey and never looked back, winning stage three to extend his lead and successfully defend it all the way through to its conclusion on the final, steep climb to Lagunas de Neila.

Landa's third place on the final stage behind Colombian Lopez and fellow Spaniard Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) ensured he topped the final general classification.

Quick-Step duo Mas and David de la Cruz placed second and third overall behind Landa.

>>> Wout Poels wins final Tour of Poland stage as Dylan Teuns secures overall

The day started with an escape group consisting of 14 riders: Delio Fernandez (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Ben King (Dimension Data), Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), José Herrada Movistar), Larry Warbasse (Aqua Blue Sport), Romain Sicard (Direct Energie), Alessandro Bisolti (Nippo-Vini Fantini), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Roompot Nederlandse Loterij), Pablo Torres (Burgos-BH), Pello Bilbao (Astana), Anthony Perez (Cofidis), Thomas Sprengers (Sport Vlaanderen) and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky).

The break were allowed only a couple of minutes gap by the Sky-led peloton as the 136km stage navigated the rolling countryside, mindful of the long and decisive final climb.

And as the race hit the bottom of the climb – with 10km to go – Quick-Step, Dimension Data and Caja Rural took over from Team Sky in the pace-making at the front of the peloton.

De la Cruz attacked first from the bunch containing Landa with Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) on the final climb to join up with Alaphilippe, who had dropped back out of the break to help his team-mate. At this point - with 7.5km to go – the remnants of the escape had just 10 seconds over de la Cruz.

As the two Quick-Step riders and Pedrero caught the escapees, Geoghegan Hart managed to stay with them with Alaphilippe swinging off. Perhaps realising that they weren't making much headway, de la Cruz and Pedrero appeared to ease off and be caught by the Landa group, leaving Geoghegan Hart to continue alone out front.

As he tackled the final climb on his own, Geoghegan Hart opened up a gap of over 20 seconds with 5km to go – with the benefit that Landa and Sky could sit back and let other teams do the chasing with their man on the attack.

Despite having also been in the earlier break, it was Astana's Bilbao that did the chasing, leading the group of favourites in pursuit of Geoghegan Hart.

As Geoghegan Hart was caught by the GC group with 2.1km to go, Landa put in an acceleration and was only joined by Mas and Lopez (Astana). Behind this lead trio, de la Cruz attempted in vain to try and bridge up to them.

In the steep final few hundred metres to the line, Lopez attacked Mas and Landa to take the victory with Mas claiming second and Landa third, safe in the knowledge that his overall victory was his.

In addition to the overall win, Landa also claimed the mountains and points classification jerseys, underlining his dominance of the race from beginning to end.

Many of the riders present in the Vuelta a Burgos will have used the race to test their form ahead of the Vuelta a España, which starts on Saturday, August 19 – in two weeks' time. However, Landa will not be among them after riding in both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this season, the latter of which saw him place fourth overall behind team-mate and winner Chris Froome.

Result

Vuelta a Burgos 2017, stage five: Comunero de Revenga to Lagunas de Neila, 136km

1. Miguel Angel Lopez (Esp) Astana, in 3-11-42

2. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 5 secs

3. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, at 11 secs

4. David de la Cruz (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 30 secs

5. Jaime Roson (Esp) Caja Rural, at 35 secs

6. Igor Anton (Esp) Dimension Data, at same time

7. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Movistar, at 37 secs

8. Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Astana, at 48 secs

9. Angel Madrazo (Esp) Delko Marseille Provence KTM, at 1-01

10. Eliot Lietaer (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise, at same time

Final general classification

1. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, in 18-12-47

2. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 40 secs

3. David de la Cruz (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 46 secs

4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Esp) Astana, at 51 secs

5. Jaime Roson (Esp) Caja Rural, at 1-18

6. Igor Anton (Esp) Dimension Data, at 1-37

7. Daniel Moreno (Esp) Movistar, at 2-13

8. Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Astana, at 2-19

9. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 2-40

10. Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon, at 2-49

Mikel Landa (Team Sky) took his second victory of the 2017 Vuelta a Burgos on Thursday, looking in a league of his own on the summit finish of stage three.

The 27-year-old Spaniard out-paced fellow attacker David de la Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) on the steep final climb of Picón Blanco to extend his overall race lead, having already won the opening stage.

Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) came in for third place at 41 seconds.

Landa now leads de la Cruz by 27 seconds overall, with Mas in third at 46 seconds.

Ten riders formed a break just after the start in Ojo Guareña: Dorian Godon (Cofidis), Bernardo Suaza (Manzana Postobon), Lasse Norman Hansen (Acqua Blue Sport), Fabien Grellier (Direct Energie), Janse Van Rensburg (Dimension Data), Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural), Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Jorge Cubero (Burgos), Martijn Budding (Roompot Nederlandse Loterij) and Pieter Serry (Quick-Step Floors).

Over the day's almost relentless selection of classified climbs and rolling terrain, the break was enduring a tough day. Smukulis was evidently the strongest, and went solo after the Alto de Ailanes opening up a gap on his former companions.

Smukulis had just over two minutes ahead of the Sky-led peloton as he hit 10km to go. However, he had his work cut out for him facing the final climb of 8.5km at an average of 9.1 per cent, but with sections of over 11 per cent.

>>> Matteo Trentin wins Vuelta a Burgos stage two as Landa retains overall lead

By the foot of the climb two kilometres later, Smukulis was fading, and the gap was down to under a minute. He was caught with 6.3km to go, and swung over at the side of the road at a virtual standstill as the peloton passed him.

Sky continued to set the speed of the bunch, but it proved to be too much for the majority. With 4km to go, there were just four riders accompanying Sky's Gianni Moscon and Landa. Quick-Step also had two riders: Mas and de la Cruz, plus Jaime Rosón (Caja Rural) and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana).

Mas attacked inside 4km, forcing Moscon to waste energy in trying to chase. All the while, Landa sat on his team-mate's wheel, biding his time.

Moscon swung off with 3.2km to go, leaving Landa to quickly chase down Mas and drag the others up to him. De la Cruz attacked almost immediately when the catch was made, followed by Landa – leaving Rosón, Lopez and Mas behind.

Landa and de la Cruz continued riding ahead of the three chasers and it became obvious that the stage win was going to be contested between the two riders. However, there was to be no gift to de la Cruz, as Landa accelerated away from him in the final 500 metres to take his second stage win of the race.

The 2017 Vuelta a Burgos continues on Friday with the race's flattest stage, a 147-kilometre trip from Bodegas Nabal to Clunia. The day may not be one for the sprinters, though, as there is a short, steep kick up to the line. The UCI 2.HC-ranked race concludes on Saturday, August 5.

Result

Vuelta a Burgos 2017, stage three: Ojo Guareña to Picón Blanco, 173km

1. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, in 4-36-40

2. David de la Cruz (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 9 secs

3. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 41 secs

4. Jaime Rosón (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, at 47 secs

5. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 55 secs

6. Igor Anton (Esp) Dimension Data, at 1-06

7. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 1-24

8. Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky, at 1-27

9. Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon, at 1-33

10. Sergio Pardilla (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, at 1-34

General classification after stage three

1. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, in 11-41-32

2. David de la Cruz (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 27 secs

3. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 46 secs

4. Jaime Rosón (Esp) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, at 54 secs

5. Miguel Ángel López (Col) Astana, at 1-02

6. Igor Anton (Esp) Dimension Data, at 1-13

7. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 1-31

8. Gianni Moscon (Ita) Team Sky, at 1-34

9. Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon, at 1-40

10. Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Astana, at 1-42

Matteo Trentin (Quick-Step Floors) won the bunch sprint at the end of stage two of the 2017 Vuelta a Burgos in Spain on Wednesday.

The Italian made up for the disappointment of fading in the finale on the previous day's stage to take a hard-fought victory. It's his first victory of the 2017 season.

British sprinter Adam Blythe (Aqua Blue) finished second, with Tim Ariesen (Roompot Nederlandse Loterij) in third.

Stage one winner Mikel Landa (Team Sky) finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall race lead ahead of Sergey Chernetskiy (Astana) at two seconds, with Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) in third at three seconds.

>>> Mikel Landa wins Vuelta a Burgos opening stage

Just as he did on the opening stage, Ben King (Dimension Data) put himself into the day's escape group to claim all of the day's intermediate sprint points for the blue jersey.

King joined the break alongside Lluís Más (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Alexandre Pichot (Direct Energie), Juan Osorio (Manzana Postobon), Daniel Diaz (Delko Marseille Provence KTM), Sjoerd Van Ginneken (Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij) and Ibai Salas (Burgos-BH).

The seven were allowed the almost regulation three and a half minutes by the peloton, led by Landa's team Sky squad and a selection of riders from interested sprinters' teams.

Watch: Vuelta a España 2017 essential guide

By 20km to go, the break's advantage had dipped to under a minute, and they were in clear view of the bunch as they rode along the straight roads in the region. Sure enough, the break was caught with 8.5km to go as Sky resumed their position at the front of the bunch to keep Landa safely out of the way of any crashes.

Gianni Moscon (Team Sky) made the most of Sky's position by attacking into the final 3km, although his move was shut down pretty swiftly by Quick-Step Floors and Roompot riders.

Trentin opened up his sprint early leaving himself with a huge effort, but in the end only Blythe was able to keep on terms with the Italian.

The UCI 2.1-HC race continues on Thursday with stage three from Oja Guareña to Picón Blanco, which ends with a climb to 1486 metres altitude that should see the general classification riders battle for placings.

Result

Vuelta a Burgos 2017, stage two: Oña to Belorado, 153km

1. Matteo Trentin (Ita) Quick-Step Floors, in 3-38-54

2. Adam Blythe (GBr) Aqua Blue Sport

3. Tim Ariesen (Ned) Roompot Nederlandse Loterij

4. Romain Cardis (Fra) Direct Energie

5. Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini

6. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Roompot Nederlandse Loterij

7. Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Fortuneo-Oscaro

8. Eduard Prades (Esp) Caja Rural

9. Christophe Noppe (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

10. Aaron Gate (NZl) Aqua Blue Sport, all same time

General classification after stage two

1. Mikel Landa (Esp) Team Sky, in 7-04-52

2. Sergey Chernetskiy (Rus) Astana, at 2 secs

3. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors, at 3 secs

4. Enric Mas (Esp) Quick-Step Floors, at 5 secs

5. Pier Paolo De Negri (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, at 7 secs

6. Jetse Bol (Ned) Manzana Postobon, at 7 secs

7. Jonas Van Genechten (Bel) Cofidis, at 7 secs

8. Carlos Barbero (Esp) Movistar, at 7 secs

9. Fabien Grellier (Fra) Direct Energie, at 7 secs

10. Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data, at 7 secs