Mikel Landa Places Fourth on Stage 6 of La Vuelta, Bahrain Victorious Leads in Team Classification
Bahrain Victorious had an impressive performance on stage 6 of La Vuelta as four team members joined a 35-man breakaway. Mikel Landa, Wout Poels, Santiago Buitrago, and Antonio Tiberi represented the team in the breakaway, with Landa finishing in fourth place. This result propelled Bahrain Victorious to the top of the team classification.
The stage was a challenging one, covering 183km with over 4,000m of altitude gain. It concluded with a brutal mountaintop finish near the Javalambre Observatory. The pace was intense from the start, and it took several attempts before the breakaway finally formed. The lead for the breakaway reached a maximum of 7 minutes before being reduced to 3:45 with 7km to go.
In the final kilometers, attacks came from both the breakaway and the peloton, with riders aiming to secure seconds in their general classification aspirations. Sepp Kuss from Jumbo-Visma launched a successful attack with 3.3km remaining and rode alone to claim the stage victory. Landa crossed the finish line in fourth place, 46 seconds behind the winner, while Poels finished in sixth place, 1:03 behind. Buitrago, who had suffered a crash earlier in the Vuelta, made a strong recovery and finished in 11th place, 1:32 behind the winner.
The stage had a significant impact on the general classification, with two Bahrain Victorious riders now in the top 10. Poels sits in fourth place with a 1:41 deficit, while Landa is in sixth place with a 1:58 deficit.
Lead Sports Director Neil Stephens expressed his satisfaction with the team’s performance, stating, “Our boys are 4th and 6th in General Classification. Obviously, I’m really happy with that but realistic. We had a good day, but we need to make sure we keep our heads calm and know that there will be better days as well as bad days, but today was a good day for us.”
Landa also shared his thoughts on the stage, saying, “It was a very hard stage, as we expected. We had 4 riders in the breakaway. We managed well to arrive at the bottom of the climb with enough time before the bunch. We went strong until the finish line to keep team GC a possibility and improved our individual position in the GC.”
Looking ahead, Bahrain Victorious aims to protect their leaders and focus on recovering during the upcoming sprint stage before facing a challenging weekend of racing.
(This article includes quotes from Mikel Landa and Neil Stephens, and all pictures are copyright @Sprintcycling @TeamBahrainVictorious and can be used for editorial and non-commercial usages only)
