Mikel Landa · Biography

In October 2013, with Euskaltel-Euskadi about to fold, Mikel Landa signed for Astana for 2014. The move took a climber born on 13 December 1989 in Murgia, in the Basque province of Álava, out of the Basque cycling set-up and into the Grand Tours, first as a domestique and later as a team leader. He has finished on the Giro d'Italia podium twice and has placed in the top seven of the Tour de France five times.

Early years and Euskaltel-Euskadi (2009-2013)

Landa rode for Orbea in 2009 and 2010, the feeder team where Basque riders served their apprenticeship. He turned professional with Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2011 and that year won a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, his first pro victory. He made his Vuelta a España debut in 2012, finishing 69th overall, and was 39th in 2013. At the end of that year the orange team closed down for lack of a sponsor.

Astana and a Giro podium (2014-2015)

In his first season with the Kazakh outfit he won a stage of the Giro del Trentino and finished both the Giro d'Italia, in 34th, and the Vuelta, in 28th. The breakthrough came in 2015. After taking a stage of the Tour of the Basque Country, he went to the Giro to support Fabio Aru and ended up sharing the spotlight with him: he won stage 15 at Madonna di Campiglio and the next day won again at Aprica, 38 seconds ahead of Steven Kruijswijk and Alberto Contador. He finished third overall, behind Contador and Aru. In September he also won a stage of the Vuelta a España.

Team Sky (2016-2017)

He joined Team Sky in 2016. He won a stage of the Tour of the Basque Country and the Giro del Trentino overall, but pulled out of the Giro on stage 10 through illness. At the Tour he rode for Chris Froome and finished 35th. His 2017 Giro went wrong on stage 9, when a crash cost him 27 minutes; he responded with a stage win, the mountains classification and the combativity award. In July, again working for Froome, he was fourth at the Tour de France, one second off the podium held by Romain Bardet, who hung on in the Marseille time trial. That summer he also won the Vuelta a Burgos, with two stages.

Movistar (2018-2019)

Movistar Team signed him for 2018. He won a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico and was seventh at the Tour, but in August he broke a lumbar vertebra in a crash at the Clásica San Sebastián. He started 2019 with a broken collarbone at the Trofeo Las Salinas. He came back to win a stage of the Settimana Coppi e Bartali and rode two consistent Grand Tours: fourth at the Giro d'Italia and sixth at the Tour de France.

Bahrain (2020-2023)

In 2020 he moved to Bahrain-McLaren and was fourth at the Tour again. In 2021 he won the Vuelta a Burgos overall, although he abandoned the Giro on stage 5 and the Vuelta on stage 17. In 2022 he returned to the Giro podium in third place and was 15th at the Vuelta. In 2023 he finished 19th at the Tour and fifth at the Vuelta a España; in October he left Il Lombardia after a crash 63 kilometres from the finish.

Soudal Quick-Step (2024-2026)

He signed for Soudal Quick-Step in 2024. In April he broke his collarbone in the mass crash on stage 5 of the Tour of the Basque Country, and in July he finished fifth at the Tour de France; at the Vuelta he was eighth. On 9 May 2025 he crashed about five kilometres from the line on the opening stage of the Giro in Tirana, suffering a stable fracture of the T11 vertebra that forced him out of the race. He returned at that year's Vuelta, finishing 27th. On 12 September 2026 he won stage 20 of the Vuelta a España solo, 187 kilometres from La Calahorra to the Collado del Alguacil, 47 seconds clear of Tobias Halland Johannessen: his first Vuelta stage win since 2015. He completed the race in 30th place.