“For all the work we did today with superior numbers, we had to win."

Those were the words of Astana's Mikel Landa after winning stage fifteen at the Giro d'Italia. Landa won the first Alpine stage of the 2015 Giro after three categorized climbs in the Dolomiti, following the hard work of his teammates into the final ascent up Madonna di Campiglio.

Teammates Diego Rosa, Tanel Kangert, Paolo Tiralongo and Fabio Aru were all part of an elite final group of riders, together with Landa, who worked successfully to isolate General Classification leader Alberto Contador of Spain in the final kilometres. Rosa attacked first, then Tiralongo, then Kangert in a strong move to create opportunities for his teammates.

Landa benefitted from his teammate’s assistance, and attacked twice in the final kilometer to pass Contador and cross the finish line alone.

"I wanted to win a stage, and to achieve my goal takes a load off my mind," he said. "The intention was that Aru and me would take turns to attack Contador until one of us got away. I think I was a bit stronger in the final sprint, and in the end it went best for me.

"I hope to keep riding at this level. I don't think I've had a weak day so far. We're here to fight and to try to win the Giro d'Italia with Fabio Aru. There is still plenty of racing ahead of us, and in the past few days Fabio's form has been like at the start. We have a rest day tomorrow, and we will discuss what we can do in the final week. 

"I've matured, I've come into this Giro d'Italia nice and fresh, so it's the perfect moment for me, and I've worked very hard to be in this condition.

"I feel very good but to gain 5 mins on Alberto Contador, you'd have to be a campionissimo. I don't want to say that it's impossible, but it's almost impossible. It will be easier to defend Aru's position, and try to beat Contador with Aru, if he has the strength, because he's only 2 and a half minutes back.

"If Aru has a crisis, then I'll be ready to assume that responsability, but I think he's good to defend it. He is young but strong, he rarely has a bad day, as we saw last year. There are still 3 or 4 uphill stages here, and if our legs are good, we'll have a go. Any day will do."

Aru remains second overall in General Classification, 2:35 behind Contador. Aru leads the Best Young Rider Classification and Astana leads the Best Team Classification.

Landa moved up to fourth overall and is now 27 seconds from a podium finish ahead of Monday’s scheduled rest day.