Mikel Landa did enough to secure 3rd in the GC on the final ITT in Verona, as Bahrain Victorious defended the best team prize. After a hard week of racing, Landa sat 26 seconds behind second-place Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and didn’t have the legs to close it further after his efforts atop Marmolada. Pello Bilbao also put on an impressive fight in the GC, finishing in the top 5, battling through bruises after a crash on stage9.

Landa has now made the podium twice at the Giro and is happy with the overall performance at the Giro: “Today I had a big margin in the time trial and in the beginning I thought I could try something to gain time to second place, but the efforts of yesterday.

It’s been a special Giro. We have been waiting for the last week, and it’s been hard to make big gaps until the last day. This is my second podium here at the Giro. The first was a bit unexpected, but now I know I can keep up with the strongest guys. We had a great team here, and it shows by winning the best team classification and Pello finishing in the top 5 in GC.”

Bahrain Victorious has now won the last 3 team classifications in Grand Tours with strength in depth across the team. Performance Director Vladimir Miholjević commented on the overall team performance: “I’m super happy and proud. It’s actually our 6th Grand Tour podium in 6 years of existence as a team. This one was really special as the team was on a level, and we were the best team in the race. We came here with a goal to win the Giro, and we won as a team and 3rd and 5th in the GC. We also came 12th with Santiago, who also won a stage, which is nice as he is a young guy, just 22 years old. We are already looking forward, and we want to win a Grand Tour. This team is made to win a Grand Tour, and we are close”.

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