After he produced a brilliant stage win in Pais Vasco before taking third on GC and two stages a the Giro, plus the brutal Andorra stage of the 2015 Vuelta, Astana manager Alexandre Vinokourov says his ex-rider Mikel Landa has suffered at Team Sky.

“Our team is one build around the man and the athlete,” Vinokourov told Cycling Weekly during Astana’s training camp in Montecatini Terme, Italy. “We are interested in men, not robots, like other teams. For example, I was pretty disappointed this year with Mikel Landa, who paid the price for changing his training totally and this way of interpreting cycling.”

Vinokourov’s racing career is as controversial as the words. He is always willing to speak on ay issue, and answered questions on whether Vincenzo Nibali left the team due to money issues.

“I don’t think it was money that made Nibali decide to leave for Bahrain,” Vinokourov said. “He was well off with us, we can’t thank him enough for his wins, but that he wanted to build a team, also thinking about the time when he leaves cycling.”