There are runners with much more palmares than Michael Landa in the current national peloton, but few transmit so much among their followers and generate a climate of support, encouragement, even a philosophy of life, as cataloged by many of them: Landismo. “It is a source of pride that there are so many Landistas who support me, accompany me… it gives me a lot of affection,” says the 33-year-old from Vitoria, one of the 14 Spaniards who will start today in the Tour de France. For the seven Basques, including Mikel, it will be very special: “Being here to start a race like the Tour… I am very happy, it will be historic”. And it is that Mikel is one of the most acclaimed, either with shirts, messages or graffiti on the roads through which the Tour will circulate, being ‘Landismo or barbarism’ one of the most repeated.
Seeing all this, what is Landismo explained by Landa himself? “It’s about dreaming, believing that special things can happen.” There would be nothing more magical for Landa than, with his friends, family and, in short, a large part of his followers, winning a stage in the Basque Country, although he warns: “They are special stages in Euskadi, but maybe not for me. They are very explosive. I think more towards the Alps, at the end of the second week and the beginning of the third”. And it is that Mikel starts as the leader of Bahrain, a team that wants to pay tribute in the best way to the late Gino Mader, putting together a great group performance and fighting to dedicate a victory to him: “It will give us extra strength.”
Landa has not been on the Tour since 2020, when he was fourth, and in 2017 He also held that position, staying just a second off the podium in a year in which his job was to help the winner Froome. “The difference that I have compared to other editions of the Tour is that I arrive at this one more mature, which is something that the years give you. This year’s route is very demanding, with little time, and it is hard. What I learned in the past is that on the Tour you have to defend yourself on bad days to take advantage of the good ones. Hopefully I can get on the podium ”, reflects the one from Bahrain about his possibilities.
One of Landa’s great squires will be Pello Bilbao, who in this case will be the team’s trump card for the early stages, with shorter and more explosive efforts. “I hope Bilbao wins in Bilbao”, said Mikel with a smile. Regarding his seven teammates, the player from Alava did not give the name of any of them to their directors, since the final choice was made 100% by the team: “I didn’t demand anyone in particular, I trust their work criteria and we have a very good team.” There are several cyclists who refer to that ‘third’ place on the podium, seeing the other two somewhat distant between Vingegaard and Pogacar: “I don’t know who is the most favourite, but it will surely be a very beautiful fight. I’ll be ready to try to chase them down.” Any script is possible in Landismo.
“Landismo is forcing you to be happy”
Yesterday in Bilbao, coinciding with the start of the Tour de France, the book ‘Landismo’ was presented, written by up to 12 authors, among them Marcos Pereda, the main precursor, and Carlos Arribas, journalist from El País. Coinciding with the tenth anniversary of the publishing house Libros de Ruta, this book, with a silhouette of Mikel Landa on the cover, explains on the part of each author what Landismo means to them. Some stories that, in many cases, They have little to do with cycling. “She had been looking for something different for a long time. Freedom, fiction, fleeing from the obvious. Landismo is forcing yourself to be happy, not to take everything seriously, and that is the best way to face life, with that self-parody component. If Landismo were a hooligan movement, I wouldn’t like it”, explains Pereda.
For Arribas, who adds one more Tour to his long curriculum, the book, as well as Landismo, “It is a philosophy of life”. “It is a false seriousness, it is a movement around Mikel in which winning is not the most important thing. The style, the background, the story. Everything around you. Of no other runner, both nationally and internationally, something like this could be done”, concludes Carlos.