Mikel Landa’s Team Angry at Giro Organizers: "Hope This Becomes the Standard Everywhere in the Future"

CEO Jurgen Foré, Patrick Lefevere’s successor, told HLN that Landa’s withdrawal was a major blow. “He was our general classification rider for this Giro. With his crash, we’re losing a lot of potential UCI points and media exposure for our sponsors,” said the Belgian. On top of that, Landa now faces a race against time to be fit for the Tour de France, a race where last year he proved to be a dream domestique for Remco Evenepoel.

Landa is expected to make a full recovery, but Foré believes we shouldn’t move on too quickly from the crash itself. “Crashes aren’t always avoidable, but I want everything possible to be done to minimize the consequences of such a fall.” And according to the Soudal–Quick-Step boss, that didn’t happen adequately in Albania. “In pro cycling, it’s called a race incident, but the consequences of the crash and how they could be reduced or avoided, that’s something I’m still thinking about.”

Foré explains his critical stance: “Mikel told me from the hospital in Albania that he was riding on the right side of the road, and the rider to his left swerved to the right, leaving Mikel with no option but to veer off the road…” The Spaniard then fell about a meter down onto a hard concrete surface. He remained on the ground for a long time before eventually being very carefully placed into an ambulance. Geoffrey Bouchard of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale also crashed there and abandoned the race.

So far, they’ve been the only two riders to abandon this Giro. But would Landa have needed to quit if the organization had done more to secure that dangerous corner? “After his fall, Mikel slid over a concrete edge. With a simple ski net to protect that zone, the injuries would likely have been less severe. In the Flemish races, these kinds of spots are now better secured, I hope this becomes the standard everywhere in the future,” said Foré.