Mikel Landa is absent from the Astana training camp in Calpe. In fact, he has never been there. A cytomegalovirus has forced him to stay and rest at his home in Murgia.

For two weeks, the Astana riders are gathered at the Diamante Beach Hotel in Calpe. However, one key rider is absent as climber Mikel Landa is not there.

"I had to stop. I cannot ride my bike and was very tired," he tells Biciciclsmo. A cytomegalovirus, one of the main reasons for mononucleosis, has weakened him.

Landa suffered from the first symptoms at the first team gathering in Montecatini Terme in late Novemer. "The team made me undergo a general check," he says. The results confirmed the illness. "We were considering whether to go to the training camp in Calpe but the team eventually decided to skip it because I was unable to train. In fact, Martino (Giuseppe Martinelli, ed.) called me three hours before I had to the plane to tell me that I should stay at home," he says.

A break like this is never welcome but at least it has only affected his off-season. "If I had the choice, it is not too bad. But it bothers me a lot because I was starting the preparation," he says.

He shared the joy with his teammates of receiving another WorldTour license for 2015. "It was a liberation," he admits. "At first I was optimistic, but when the information about Ferrari was published in La Gazzetta, I had uncertainty.

In the weekend, Landa will meet with his teammates for official photos of the year.

Landa will do his second year at Astana. In 2014, he won the Monte Bondone stage in the Giro del Trentino and supported Fabio Aru both the Giro and the Vuelta. He was 31st in Catalunya, 14th in the Basque Country, 10th in Trentino and was third in the Lagunas de Neila queen stage of the Vuelta a Burgos.