Mikel Landa leads the Bahrain Victorious lineup with the 110th edition of the Tour de France departing on home roads for the Basque rider.
Departing from Bilbao, this year’s edition will have riders take on 3,404 km and over 55,000 vertical meters of climbing across the 21 stages, which only includes a hilly 22km time trial on stage 16.
The 21 stages have been categorised into eight flat stages for the sprinters, which Phil Bauhaus will contest with the support of Nikias Arndt, four hilly stages suited to breakaways, where Fred Wright and Matej Mohoric will look for their opportunities and eight mountain stages where Jack Haig and Wout Poels will support Landa. Pello Bilbao will also keep his eye on the GC and riding home roads for the Grand Depart; he will be highly motivated to aim for another place in the top ten as he did back in 2021.
With a single time trial, a grand depart in his home country and plenty of climbing, Mikel Landa is looking forward to this edition of the Tour de France.
“The depart in the Basque Country is going to be really exciting! I’ve already been feeling the passion and excitement of the fans. They are supporting me already. I think it’s going to be a big celebration of cycling, so I’m really happy to be a part of that.”
“The key stages start in the Basque Country with two hard opening stages, and it will be crucial to be ready, as there could be some gaps already at the finish line.”
“Looking at my ambitions, I’d love to finish close to the podium in the GC and also look to win a stage, which is also a dream.”
“This year the team and all of us have been impacted by the loss of our friend and teammate, Gino. We need to look at this for extra motivation and to be at our best every day and try and race for him and honour him.”
