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MIKEL LANDA // The Pragmatist

THE EUSKALTEL DIASPORA

The Basque Country is one of cycling’s hotbeds.
As in Flanders and Brittany, the sport is a source
of regional pride and identity, and until 2014,
there was a Basque WorldTour team. Euskaltel-
Euskadi grew from a local team into one which
took part in international events in the late 90s,
racing in the Tour every year from 2001-2013.
The team folded at the end of 2013,
leaving a lot of riders without jobs, and it

really altered the peloton’s composition. In

2013, there were 25 Basque riders and 28

other Spanish riders in the WorldTour. But

now, while the number of other Spanish

riders has remained stable at 26, there are

only 12 Basque pros left, and it’s no surprise

to find that it’s the journeymen who have

gone, while stars such as Haimar Zubeldia

and Landa have survived at the top.The

main beneficiaries have been Movistar and

Sky. Movistar has three former Euskaltel

riders – the Izagirre brothers and Jonathan

Castroviejo – while four others ride for Sky:

Beñat Intxausti, Landa, David López and

Mikel Nieve. The other Basque WT riders

are Igor Antón and Omar Fraile (Dimension

Data), Amets Txurruka (Orica), and Markel

Irizar and Zubeldia (Trek). Samuel Sánchez,

the most successful Euskaltel rider ever,

was not Basque, but hailed from Asturias.

However, he developed within the Basque

system and rode for Euskaltel for 14 years

before joining BMC in 2014. There are

also two riders, Imanol Erviti (Movistar)

and Xabier Zandio (Sky), who come from

Navarre, considered culturally Basque by

many locals, but officially a different region

T

his northern,
mountainous corner of
Spain is the land of
slender climbers, who
tend to come in one of two types. There
is the mercurial star – think Iban Mayo;
and then there is the humble worker,
committed and happy to fly under the
public radar – think Haimar Zubeldia.
There seem to be lots of Zubeldias from
the Basque Country but fewer Mayos.
Mayo was Icarus. For two exhilarating
seasons, in 2003 and 2004, he challenged
the Armstrong-Ullrich hegemony,
tormenting Armstrong with his
accelerations in the mountains and
general unpredictability. At the 2003 Tour
he humiliated the Texan on Alpe d’Huez;
at the Critérium du Dauphiné the next
year he set a record for Mont Ventoux
that, incredibly, still stands. But Mayo flew
too close to the sun, crashing and burning.
He hasn’t been seen at a bike race since a
positive test for EPO in 2007.
Then there is Zubeldia: solid, loyal,
dependable. Zubeldia has finished in the
top 10 of the Tour de France five times.
You will be forgiven if these
performances went unregistered:
Zubeldia’s speciality is to be strong and
consistent but largely unseen. “Haimar
is typical of the Basque mentality,” says
his Trek-Segafredo team-mate Markel
Irizar. “Very proud, very humble.”
Mikel Landa, says Irizar, is a bit
different – more like Mayo, though not a
carbon copy. “Mikel is not as nervous as
Iban, who could be a little crazy,” says
Irizar. “But he has Iban’s punch. Landa, I
think, has something special. He has no
fear; he isn’t scared of anything.”
People have been aware of Landa
for years in the Basque Country but his
name was barely known beyond his
home region before the 2015 Giro
d’Italia. It was a savage race that

produced a battling performance from

Alberto Contador, who hung on to win

after a sustained assault from Astana,

led by Fabio Aru and Landa. Aru was

second but Landa was the revelation,

coming third and winning two stages,

back-to-back, in the final week.

Arguably, he was stronger than Aru

but Astana’s management, who

happen to be Italian, backed Aru.

“In the Giro I was stronger but finally

they helped Aru,” says Landa now,

adding, with a shrug, “They are Italians.”

Dave Brailsford watched Landa’s

coming-of-age with admiration but also

unease. The Team Sky principal had

been monitoring the Basque with a

view to signing him in 2016, and feared

that his Giro ride would inflate his

market value to a point where he might

not represent good value. In fact,

Brailsford had almost signed Landa at

the end of 2013, when the Basque

team, Euskaltel-Euskadi, folded, but

opted instead for Mikel Nieve.

Nieve – fitting the Zubeldia rather than

the Mayo mould – has proved a solid,

selfless team-mate. Chris Froome has

said he would love a team filled with

riders like Nieve. Landa – and this is

where his joining Sky is intriguing –

offers something different.

We meet Landa in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the

political capital of the Basque Country.

By the coast, the region’s better known

cities, Bilbao and San Sebastián, are

bathed in sunshine. But Vitoria is inland

and shrouded in thick fog. Landa

emerges from the gloom, having driven

from Murgia, the small village where he

was born and still lives 17km away.

He had requested a 9am meeting,

so that he could train afterwards. By

the time he arrives it is closer to 10. Is

he still planning to go out on his bike

later? He looks puzzled. “My bike? No

but I’ll go to the gym,” he says. Then

he adds: “Maybe.”

It is November but Landa belongs to

the old school: a full month off the

Basque-ing in glory:

Landa took a slolo win

on Monte Bondone at

Trentino 2014

Landa’s first

professional team

was Basque outfit

Euskaltel-Euskadi

March 2016 // 81