Basque newspaper Deia has reported that Mikel Landa’s absence from the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is due to his preference to work on his time trialling ahead of the Giro. His season debut with his new Sky team will come at the Ruta del Sol.

Landa will get his first time trial on stage four of the Rita del Sol, a rolling 21km test in and around Malaga. The paper says Landa spent six hours on the Mallorca Velodrome to perfect his position. He also reportedly trains twice a week on his time trial bike.