Monday, 5thAugust – BAHRAIN MERIDA Pro Cycling Team is proud to announce that Mikel Landa, one of the world’s top professional riders, will be wearing the team’s jersey from 2020. The Basque climber, a proven force in the mountains, will be a major contributor to our stage race objectives.
Landa, 29, turned professional in 2011 and since then has built an impressive Palmares. In 2015 he achieved his first Grand Tour successes – winning a stage of the Vuelta a Espana and two stages of the Giro d’Italia, where he also finished 3rdoverall. This year he was 4thoverall at the Giro d’Italia and 6that the Tour de France, where he also took the Combativity Award on Stage 15.
The Spanish rider, who still lives in his hometown, Murgia, is very proud of his Basque roots. His first professional team was the local Euskaltel-Euskadi and he has remained close to the Fundación Euskadi ever since. In 2018 he became the president of the local Euskadi Cycling Foundation, demonstrating his loyalty to the organization that helped him become the cyclist he is today.
General Manager of the team Brent Copeland said: “It is with immense pleasure that we welcome Mikel to our team, he is a rider who brings excitement to racing with his incredible climbing skills which makes him one of the most competitive riders for the grand tours, his consistent results speak for themselves and his exceptional experience is something that we at Team Bahrain Merida know we can count on. With the arrival of McLaren to our team, we believe that Mikel will have even more benefits to take advantage of and this makes everyone at the team very enthusiastic, we are sure the fans are just as excited as we are about his arrival as we all looking forward to cheering Mikel on”.
Mikel commented after signing a contract: “I feel very proud of Team Bahrain Merida who has chosen me to lead this project. I feel really excited for coming challenges.”
Mikel is confident in his form and eager to compete in BAHRAIN MERIDA colours. We greatly respect his achievements to date and look forward to him contributing to the ongoing development and improvement of our team. We wish him a warm welcome and many further successes in our jersey.
