It was another challenging week of racing at the Tour of Basque Country, Mikel Landa and Pello Bilbao’s homeland race. The race covered almost 800 kilometres and plenty of elevation throughout. For the team, the race was the perfect preparation ahead of Landa’s primary goal, the Giro d Italia.

Our riders put in a solid display against the challenging Basque Country parcour, with Pello Bilbao finishing 6th in the GC and Landa in 8th. It was Vuelta Espana 2020 winner Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma) who eventually went on to win the race.

Pello Bilbao was recognised for his strong performance, being awarded the best ranked Basque rider. He also narrowly missed out on a stage win in a photo finish sprint on Stage 4.

Pello Bilbao was happy with the team’s performance: “The most important thing was that we gave everything we had. We were really motivated. Racing with heart here, we, as a team, had a lot of good moments, and we must be happy now.

In the end, we know that the result is not the best, but we were second on one stage by just a few centimetres in a photo finish. And today 6th and 8th position in the overall. We have shown our combativity and that we are there. We have a real team spirit that is the most important thing. I can say that we go out from this race stronger than we began, which will be important for our main objective, the Giro d’Italia. We have a little bit less than one month, and some of us will race at Tour of Alps, and some go to training camp and we will do our all to be at our 100%.”.

Mikel Landa is optimistic after his performance: “As expected, It has been a very hard race. All the formations, all the teams and their line-ups were really strong. I had a very good test at the first ITT stage. I wanted to win a stage here, but it wasn’t easy. I tried it on Thursday at the fourth stage. I’m thinking now about Giro d’Italia. The objective I think I’m good enough for the moment, and I believe things will get even better”.

Gorazd Štangelj, Sports Director, is looking ahead to the Giro: “It was really a complicated race with hard stages. From the very beginning, we started very well with the time trial and let’s say we’ve been on the right track. We can be happy, but our expectations for today were higher. The quality in the race was very high, so small details were decisive here for the overall result. We didn’t reach it, gaps were small, but we were not lucky enough in this game of seconds. Exactly one month remains for the upcoming Giro. I think we’re on the good track and let’s say confidence in the team is good. We are all working better and better every day, so we are looking forward to the close future and our main objectives. We have the altitude training camp and some races to complete this mission. Mission, Giro d’Italia 2021”.

(All pictures can be used for editorial and non-commercial usages only and are copyright @CharlyLopez @TeamBahrainVictorious)