{"id":50904,"date":"2025-08-07T17:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50904\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T17:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T17:30:08","slug":"he-came-up-against-pogacar-at-his-very-best-mikel-landa-names-jonas-vingegaard-vuelta-favourite-but-dodges-questions-on-evenepoels-quick-step-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/50904\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe came up against Pogacar at his very best\u201d \u2013 Mikel Landa names Jonas Vingegaard Vuelta favourite but dodges questions on Evenepoel\u2019s Quick-Step exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t the time for big dreams or jokes,\u201d he said, clearly tempering expectations. \u201cThe goal is simply to be on the start line for La Vuelta. Nothing more than that. My plan here is to see how I\u2019m feeling, find some rhythm, and start putting my last race behind me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the cautious tone, Landa looked sharper than expected in the Burgos opener, finishing 13th and almost making the split on the punchy ascent to the Alto del Castillo. On Thursday he returns to more familiar terrain as the race tackles the mountains of \u00c1lava, including the climb to Ordu\u00f1a \u2014 practically home roads for Landa.<\/p>\n

But while his comments on his own condition were pragmatic, Landa didn\u2019t hesitate when asked who he sees as the favourite for this year\u2019s Vuelta a Espana<\/a>. The answer came quickly. \u201cJonas Vingegaard,\u201d he nodded. \u201cHe had a great Tour, even though he came up against Pogacar at his very best. I still think he performed at a really high level, so yes, he\u2019ll start La Vuelta as the favourite.\u201dVingegaard ultimately finished second at the 2025 Tour de France<\/a>, 4:24 behind Tadej Pogacar<\/a> on GC, though the gap belied how evenly matched the two looked for most of the race. A couple of off-days cost the Dane dearly, but his form remains unquestionable \u2014 particularly with an eye toward Spain, where his ability to recover and peak again after the Tour has been proven.\"&amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;gt;\"\/<\/p>\n

Evenepoel and Landa has proven a strong double-act when racing together over the last couple of years<\/p>\n

A shifting hierarchy at Quick-Step<\/p>\n

Evenepoel\u2019s long-anticipated transfer to Red Bull – BORA -hansgrohe was finally confirmed earlier this week, ending what has arguably been the most drawn-out transfer saga in recent cycling history. The Belgian, long seen as the face of Soudal – Quick-Step, will leave before the end of his contract for a team with deeper financial backing and grander long-term ambitions.<\/p>\n

It leaves Quick-Step in a state of flux, and potentially opens the door for experienced riders like Landa to step into more prominent roles \u2014 at least temporarily. But if he has such ambitions, Landa is keeping them close to his chest. \u201cAt the moment I\u2019m full of doubts,\u201d he said, candidly. \u201cI want to see how my back holds up, how my legs respond. I\u2019m just taking it day by day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a familiar sentiment from Landa, who has built a cult following around moments of brilliance interspersed with injury setbacks and tactical misfortune. Still, in a post-Evenepoel landscape, Quick-Step may need to lean on that experience more than ever \u2014 particularly if he makes it to the Vuelta start line with decent legs. Until then, the Basque veteran is keeping it simple: rebuild, race, and let the legs do the talking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThis isn\u2019t the time for big dreams or jokes,\u201d he said, clearly tempering expectations. \u201cThe goal is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-50904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}