There is no calm day without falls in this Itzulia. Even with the shock in his body from the terrifying accident that Vingegaard, Roglic and Evenepoel, among others, suffered this Thursday, in the fifth stage it was Mikel Landa’s turn (Soudal). The 34-year-old from Alava also had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance after suffering another hard fall, which also led to his abandonment.
Landa, who was in 27th place overall, 45 seconds behind the leader, the Dane Skjelmose (Lidl) fell near the climb to the Urkiola pass, about 94 km from the finish line, along with his Belgian teammate Gil Gelders and to the also Spanish Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar).
After being treated by race doctors, Landa was evacuated in an ambulance to be taken to the hospital. The Alava cyclist had remained the Soudal team’s overall asset, after the fall and retirement of Remco Evenepoel on Thursday.
After being second in the Volta a Catalunya, the Basque had a great opportunity to win the race in his homeland. But it can’t be. The extent of the injury is unknown.
Now without Landa, the fifth stage presented a battle with several attacks on the double climb (and descent) to the Muniketagaina pass, on the way to Amorebieta. “We have not been able to reach either McNulty or Del Toro. I wanted to get into the sprint but there was a lot of confusion at the end,” explained Juan Ayuso (UAE), one of the important men still in the running.
Finally, the very young Frenchman Grégoire (Groupama), who has just turned 21, won the finish line. Everything remains up in the air before this Saturday’s queen stage with six climbs and starting and ending in Eibar. The leader, the Danish Skjelmose (Lidl) will have many open fronts since he has 20 cyclists less than 50 seconds behind. Among them Ayuso (at 4s), Pello Bilbao (at 15s), Ion Izagirre (at 34s), Marc Soler (at 47s) and Carlos Rodríguez (at 50s).
