Mikel Landa's return from his five previous Vuelta a España appearances is an underwhelming one and he downplayed his prospects of improving on that record in this year's event, which gets underway in Utrecht on Friday.
In May, Landa secured the second Grand Tour podium finish of his career when he placed third at the Giro d'Italia, but his lone outing since was a low-key display at the Vuelta a Burgos.
He blamed his struggles there on the "muscular problems" that interrupted his training in July, hence the downbeat assessment of his chances when he spoke with reporters on the eve of the Vuelta.
"The problem before Burgos brought me to a stop for a month. I've trained well since then, but I haven't had much time and miracles don't happen," said Landa in a video conference.
Reading the runes of Landa's pre-Vuelta form has never been straightforward. A year ago, for instance, he arrived at the race buoyed by overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos, but in truth, that triumph had come as a surprise both to him and his Bahrain Victorious team.
The Basque sensed he was still feeling the effects of the heavy crash that had ended his Giro a couple of months previously, and his Vuelta challenge duly wilted once the race entered the mountains.
That was Landa's first Vuelta appearance since 2015, when he landed his lone stage victory in the race on the miniature epic to Cortals d'Encamp in Andorra, and his 25th place in Madrid that year was his highest Vuelta finish. In the meantime, Landa has enjoyed more fruitful outings at the Tour and Giro, with two fourth places in Paris as well as this year's podium finish in Verona.
"I'd like to be competitive at the Vuelta, but this time I'm not arriving in the same form as on other occasions or in other races," Landa said. "I don't think I'm going to be able to fight for the general classification.
"It's a pity I'm not a bit better, but in any case, I'll give it everything, and we'll see later if I can go for the GC or for stage wins. I hope people will be entertained."
Regardless of his later ambitions, Landa will hope to emerge unscathed from the Vuelta's opening stanza in the Netherlands before the race travels to his native Basque Country on Monday's rest day. The route of stage 4 to Laguardia passes close to Landa's hometown of Murgia and over his training roads, including the Puerto de Herrera in the finale.
"For me it will be a nicer Vuelta because of the days we're in Vitoria and in the Basque Country," Landa said. "They'll be nervous stages, and days where you can make a difference. I don't think they'll let me go unless I've lost a bit of time by then, but I do know the roads so that could be a good opportunity to try to win a stage."
Without Landa, Bahrain Victorious endured a strikingly subdued Tour, where the police search of their hotel before the start in Copenhagen drew more notice than their performances on the road.
At this Vuelta, Landa will be flanked by Gino Mäder, who was a stage winner last year, and by Santiago Buitrago, who soloed to a stylish victory in Lavarone on the Giro. Buitrago warmed up for the Vuelta by landing the opening stage in Burgos, where he went on to finish eighth overall.
"This will be my first time doing two Grand Tours in a year, so I don't know how my body will respond, but I trained well when I was at home in Colombia," said Buitrago, whose previous Vuelta appearance came as a 21-year-old neo-professional in the pandemic-delayed edition of 2020.
"That was quite complicated for me. It was my first season as a pro and it was a strange season, so I wasn't in the best condition. It was hard, but I still enjoyed it. That Vuelta changed me a bit. This time will be a little different, because I have a lot more experience and confidence."
