Mikel Landa will go to Euskaltel-Euskadi

Fifteen years after making his professional debut wearing the legendary orange jersey, Mikel Landa is ready to return home. The Basque climber, now 36, will once again wear the colors of Euskaltel-Euskadi starting next season, in what Basque fans are already celebrating as a significant return.

Landa has signed a two-year contract that will keep him with the ProTeam team until at least the end of 2028. This agreement represents a true return to his roots for the rider, who took his first steps in the professional ranks wearing this jersey from 2011 to 2013, before embarking on a long journey that has led him to wear the jerseys of Astana, Team Sky, Movistar, Bahrain Victorious and, most recently, Soudal-QuickStep.

The original team disbanded at the end of 2013, only to be reborn in 2020 as a professional team under the same historic sponsors, bringing the orange back into the international fold.

"For me, returning to Euskaltel-Euskadi, donning the orange jersey again, and reconnecting with the Euskadi Foundation means coming full circle," Landa said in a press release announcing the move. "I became a professional thanks to this organization, and returning here at this stage of my career has a deeply personal meaning. I arrive with great enthusiasm and a strong desire to contribute to the team's sporting project. I feel I still have the strength and experience needed to achieve great results and give the fans something to celebrate."

For fantasy cycling fans, this move deserves special attention: Landa will bring a wealth of international experience to a ProTeam environment where he will be the undisputed overall leader. This could translate into complete tactical freedom and attacking opportunities that have been denied him in recent years, crushed by more rigid hierarchies in the big teams.

"In the coming years, I will give my all to repay the team as they deserve," added the Basque rider, whose palmarès speaks for itself: two fifth-place finishes in the general classification at the Tour de France, two podiums at the Giro d'Italia with three stage wins, and a stage victory at the Vuelta a España in 2015.

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