Mikel Landa looked like he could potentially win the Giro d'Italia overall when he dropped all the favourites on the Colle delle Finestre in stage 20. However, he dropped back to his team leader Fabio Aru and helped him win the stage while also defending his third place overall.

Afterwards, the Basque admitted that he had just followed team orders.

“I would have liked to have won the stage but I was stopped by the team car because they had the idea that they could win the Giro [with Aru] and I had to follow orders,” said Landa.

“Maybe we should have tried earlier. But Alberto didn’t look too bad because he had responded to Kruijswijk and Hesjedal’s attacks and that intimidated us a bit. That’s his strength. He knew how to control things and he succeeded completely.”

“My next objective is the Vuelta a España, but I’m happy with my Giro. It’s a big turning point in my career and I’ll look on things from a different perspective now.”