Soudal Quick-Step

Mikel Landa is a Spanish professional cyclist who races for Soudal Quick-Step.

A veteran GC rider, Landa has built a career on his durability as a solid climber with two podium finishes in the Giro d’Italia. He has won three stages in the Giro and one stage in the Vuelta a España in a career that also includes four top-10 finishes in the Tour de France.

Landa turned professional with Euskaltel-Euskadi in 2011 after a promising U23 career. He moved to the Astana Pro Team in 2014 and spent two years on the team before signing with Team Sky at the start of 2016. Two years later Landa moved again, this time agreeing to a two-year contract with Movistar Team. Hitting a repeat on his two-year itch, he left for Bahrain Victorious at the start of 2020. 

While Landa had a successful stint at Bahrain Victorious, the Basque rider has been brought into the Soudal Quick-Step set-up for 2024 to help bolster Remco Evenepoel's climbing contingent at the Grand Tours. 

Mikel Landa

Tech

Pro Bikes

Mikel Landa's Vuelta a España climbing bike: Merida Scultura Team

Mikel Landa teamed up with his Merida Scultura climbing bike to claw bike plenty of time in the mountains at the Vuelta a España, specced with Shimano and Vision components.

Vuelta a España climbing bike: Mikel Landa's Merida Scultura for stage 3's summit finish to Arinsal

 will go down in history for multiple reasons, all of them related to Jumbo-Visma’s dominance. 

Through Sepp Kuss’ first Grand Tour victory

, the Dutch outfit became the first team to ever win all three Grand Tours in a single season, Primož Roglič having won the Giro d’Italia earlier in the year before Jonas Vingegaard defended his Tour de France title in July. Those two riders fittingly completed the Vuelta podium in Madrid, accomplishing another impressive feat as the team completed the first podium clean sweep at a Grand Tour since 1966.

Sepp Kuss’ winner's edition Vuelta a España bike

In the face of such dominance, it was a tough race for the other GC stars. While some crumbled in the face of the Jumbo-Visma onslaught, others put up a spirited fight, including home star 

who shot up the overall standings from 11th after the stage 10 individual time trial to fifth in Madrid, his best ever finish at the race. 

Most of the time taken was on the Spaniard's favoured terrain, the mountains, were he teamed up with his 

 Scultura Team climbing bike to great effect.

We caught a glimpse of the bike ahead of stage 3, the first mountain stage of the race which wound its way along a flat route before concluding with a summit finish in Arinsal, one of only two climbs on the day.

Despite being flat for the majority of the kilometres, the Scultura was still the best choice for the stage, chosen ahead of the team’s Reacto aero bike.

The bike was released in 2021 with, like most modern climbing bikes, a dose of aerodynamics added to its traditional lightweight formula. This included dropped seatstays, reducing the frontal area, and introducing fully integrated cabling in a new one-piece cockpit.

Despite these changes, the bike still retained its light weight, actually shedding 38g from the previous model in a size medium.

Comfort is also a key part of the equation, with Merida introducing a more aggressively sloping top tube and integrated seat clamp, allowing it to shorten the seat tube. This exposes more of the seat post, allowing for more flex. More flex results in improved comfort.

’s newest Dura-Ace groupset, pairing a 54/40t chainset with a 11-34t cassette. 

It’s a common set-up that we encountered a lot throughout the race, providing ample gearing for both the flat and mountains. The chainset could be changed out for something more compact for tougher mountain days to provide easier gearing.

Wheels are a big consideration for a stage like this which blends climbing with long stretches of flat road, and Landa opted for the 

These are fairly shallow, providing a nice balance between light weight for the climbs and some aerodynamic qualities for the flat, and were paired with Continental Grand Prix 5000 TT tyres in 28mm.

Upon its release, the Team SL 1P cockpit was one of the bike’s defining features, offering “outstanding aerodynamics”. Landa went a step further in pursuit of aero gains, choosing a noticeably slammed set-up.

Completing the build, the bike had a Prologo Scratch M5 saddle, FSA seatpost, plus 

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Mikel Landa

Mikel Landa's Bikes

Mikel Landa's Vuelta a España climbing bike: Merida Scultura Team

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