The first time Mikel Landa stood on the Giro d’Italia podium was in 2015, exactly ten years ago, alongside Alberto Contador in the Maglia Rosa and Fabio Aru. Of that year’s general classification Top 10, only Landa and Damiano Caruso are still racing. The rest have long since hung up their wheels. The Basque rider was once heralded as a future Grand Tour champion, but with 22 three-week races under his belt, that 2015 result remains one of his best, matched only by another 3rd-place finish in 2022.

And yet, among his generation, Landa has been one of the few able to keep pace with the rapi devolution of modern cycling. While many of his peers faded away, he kept pushing at the front, battling it out with riders 10 to 15 years younger. Across the past decade of Grand Tours, Landa has been a constant presence, racking up 10 overall Top 10 finishes, including 7 in the Top 5. Unfortunately for him – whether racing veterans or rising stars – there was always someone stronger standing in his way. The result: nearly four years without a win (his last being the GC at the 2021 Vuelta a Burgos) and more than six years since he last raised his arms in triumph (a stage at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali).