Mikel Landa (1989) wants to quickly adapt to his new role in Team Sky and respond to the trust that the British team has placed in him. The Basque climber will start to work with the team during a two-week training camp in Mallorca.

Sky Team leader Dave Brailsford and Chris Froome have gathered their troops in Mallorca in December. Landa wants to become fully involved with his new team and be integrated as soon as possible. He will therefore spend two weeks under the Balearic sunshine from the 6th to the 20th of December. Biciciclismo reports that he will focus on training and planning for next season. He and Michal Kwiatkowski are the star signings, with Beñat Intxausti also joining the team.

Landa will use the occasion to define his schedule, in particular his build-up to the Giro d'Italia, his big goal of the season and the race that elevated him to the top. The British formation has given him the role of designated leader for Corsa Rosa after his third place for Astana in 2015. One of Landa’s desires is not to skip the Tour of the Basque Country, his home race where he won a stage to Aia in 2015.

Landa will start to work with a specific group of riders who will accompany him in the Giro and will surround him for much of the season. The goal is to gain confidence from the start.

The Basque rider had a breakthrough 2015 season. After suffering from a virus during the winter, he emerged in the Tour of the Basque Country with the aforementioned victory in Aia and showed his quality until the end of the season: only Richie Porte was better than him at the Giro Trentino and he went on to win the Giro stages to Madonna di Campiglio and Aprica and finish third overall behind Alberto Contador and teammate Fabio Aru. In the Vuelta a Espana, he won the queen stage to Cortals d'Encamp in Andorra and worked as a luxury domestique for overall winner Aru, most notably on the penultimate day. The season ended in a similar role when he helped Vincenzo Nibali win Il Lombardia.

Team Sky for 2016:

New signings: Michal Golas, Benat Intxausti Michal Kwiatkowski, Mikel Landa, Gianni Moscon, Alex Peters and Danny van Poppel. Returning riders:  Ian Boswell, Philip Deignan, Sebastián Henao, Peter Kennaugh, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Mikel Nieve Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard and Xabier Zandio (renewed), Andrew Fenn, Chris Froome, Sergio Henao, Leopold Konig, David Lopez, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Wout Poels, Salvatore Puccio, Nicolas Roche, Ben Swift, Geraint Thomas and Elia Viviani (existing contracts)