After 3 years in Euskaltel colours, Mikel Landa will be riding for Astana in the coming two years. In his first season with the Kazakh squad, the Basque climber will be one of the most important domestiques for Michele Scarponi and Fabio Aru in the Giro d'Italia.

When the demise of the Euskaltel team was confirmed, most of the riders struggled to find a new team for the coming season but Mikel Landa didn't face the same kind of difficulties. Known as a very talented climber, the 24-year-old was picked up by one of the sport's major teams when he was offered a contract with Astana.

Landa burst onto the scene in 2011 when he won the queen stage of the Vuelta a Burgos and showed his talents one year later when he finished 2nd behind Daniel Moreno in the GP Miguel Indurain. This year he was 2nd in the Vuelta a la Comunidad de Madria and Vuelta a Asturias and 6th in both the Vuelta Burgos and the Clasica San Sebastian. He showed his climbing talents when he finished 9th on the Vuelta mountain stage to Collada de la Gallina.

He may been very inconsistent in his first three seasons but those kind of performances have been enough to attract the interest of Astana. While he won't be part of the team that will support Vincenzo Nibali at the Tour de France, he will get his chance at the Giro d'Italia which will be his main target and the third grand tour of his young career after having done the Vuelta in 2012 and 2013.

In the Italian grand tour, he will ride in support of Michele Scarponi and Fabio Aru who have been given the leadership roles at the Kazakh team.

"The goal is to be good at the Giro and help Scarponi as much as possible," he told Biciciclismo.

To reach the start line in the best possible condition, Landa will do a solid race schedule that contains plenty of WorldTour racing. He will start his season already in January at the Tour de San Luis and will maje his European debut in the Challenge Mallorca in the beginning of February.

After ending the races on Mallorca, he will travel to Tenerife where he will attend a training camp on Mount Teide. His first WorldTour race will be the Volta a Catalunya in March which will be followed by a participation in his big home race, the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

His final race ahead of the Giro will be the traditional warm-up event, Giro del Trentino.

Landa's only professional win was his breakthrough triumph in the Vuelta a Burgos.