Last Thursday, Mikel Landa was back on his bike for the first time after several weeks of inactivity due to a virus that prevented him from attending the Astana training camp in Calpe. Now he has started his training with more "anger and desire than ever before" and hopes to return to full health in January. In 2015, he wants to be more consistent and don't miss any opportunities that may arise. His first ride lasted for one and a half hour but the Spaniard claims to be "very happy" with the workout.

 

 

Mikel Landa is again smiling. "I had foond news this afternoon. I underwent a test which cam eback negative. I am not concerned. Now it is time to recover. It will be a matter of a few weeks before I am back to normal," he told Biciciclismo last Wednesday. "I will try to find the right sensations because I am still a little tired. If I can just do an hour... Whatever. I start tomorrow. It seems that it won't rain. In January, I hope to do some quality training again. It is difficult at this time of the year but since I am eager and have so much anger, I don't care if I get a bit wet."

 

 

Since November, Landa has been suffering from cytomegalovirus and since then he has been unable to ride. He even missed the Astana training camp in Calpe as he was only there for a single night. "I had to go in the weekend. We took pictures on Satirday and Sunday and then I returned hime. It was a little weird. In the first training camp, there is much enthusiasm for training and doing hours. I saw the excited and motivated people and I could not do anything. It was pretty tough," he said.

 

Now he will try to make up for the lost time although he knows that it is not a bad time to be hit by a setback. "I was fortune to have been hit by this at the start of the winter season. I lost 1,000 kilometers of training, but it is not like if it happened in May when it would have impacted my season. I had started my training in mid-November and the truth is that I was pretty good, I had a good muscle mass and the first 1,000 kilometers made me feel comfortable on the bike," he explained. With the inactivity, he had to monitor his diet. "I've had to be more careful. When you take a rest, you always gain a few kilos of weight."

 

At just 25 years of age, Landa goes into his seventh season as a professional and so is already pretty experienced. "I believe that I will be able to find out what kind of rider I am, just like Aru did this year. I will be more one to fight for stages. I need to use my head better in certain situations." He has other pending matters to take care of. "This year I'm psyched to work a little harder in the time trial because I realized that the stage races are decided mainly among climbers. The one who loses the least amount of time in the time trial and is a little smarter than the rest always wins. I am motivated to do this and see what kind of results it yields," he said.

 

"The schedule will be unchanged because I am on schedule," he said. He will start his season in the Vuelta a Murcia and Clasica Almeria before he does the Vuelta a Andalucia and Volta a Catalunya in preparation of the Giro d'Italia. His goals are clear. "In the beginning of the season, I was pretty consistent which I had never been before. This year I will try to be even more regular and reach the Giro at hundred percent to seize the opportunity and give my best."

 

In the Giro, he will support Fabio Aru in the mountains and he hopes to have his own opportunities too. "He showed that he can be in contentio for the Giro podium and we go there with that intention, to help him achieve his goal. I want to reach my own goals to and to have my chance. Aru will focus much on the Giro and in the earlier races I can have more freedom. I have to seize the opportunities sooner or later. Due to this break, I may have an advantage of good form after the Giro which I could use in Switzerland," he added.

 

Landa has another reason to smile. Last Wednesday, the UCI decided to grant Astana a WorldTour license. "We had a week of great uncertainty, even fear. There seems to be a lot of people who wanted to hurt us and who do not like this team. Finally we got the tranquility and now the news that I'm recovering, makes it even better. This situation has created anger and we are keen to prove our worth and that there is no cheating in our team," he said.