Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) is contemplating a change in his Grand Tour plans this summer after returning to the Giro d'Italia podium for the first time in seven years. Landa's last time on the Grand Tour podium was in 2015, when she finished third in the Giro d'Italia, a landmark result for the Basque at the time. His dream of finishing the 2022 Giro d'Italia in pink did not come true in a race where many of the pre-Giro favorites were eliminated, but the Bahrain Victorious racer still did more than enough to continue his role as a Grand Tour specialist.

He even described his third-place finish as the most satisfying of his career, given that he was able to meet pre-race expectations without the bad luck, injuries, and crashes that have plagued his career.

During this time, he finished fourth in the Giro and Tour de France, but failed to make the podium in either. In the most recent Giro, he broke his collarbone and ribs in the first week and was out of the 2021 race. It's really hard to leave a race when you haven't given it your all," Landa said. This time, anyway, he said a podium finish was enough to fulfill his expectations. "I knew that if everything went well and I didn't crash or suffer any other catastrophe, I would be at the top of the standings," he said. I came here (Verona) and gave it everything I had. Landa's plans may switch to heading to the Vuelta a España instead of the Tour de France, where he took two stage wins and a third-place finish in the 2015 Giro, followed five months later by his only stage win in the Vuelta. Landa achieved his goal of a top-three finish at the Giro d'Italia, but he was unable to end his 18-month stage-winning drought in the Grand Tour. Landa achieved his goal of a top-three finish at the Giro d'Italia, but he was unable to end his year-and-a-half-long thirst for stage victories at Grand Tours. He noted that stages 16 and 17 in the third week ended after major climbs and had few summit finishes, reasoning that it was "difficult to give it your all on the last climb. Then came stage 20, the toughest summit finish of the third week. Landa praised Jai Hindley (Bora-Hansgrohe) for his race on stage 20 and said that he was "not that surprised" by the Australian's performance. He's a good rider and Bora is getting better with each passing year. We have a new team competing in the overall class and this was unexpected. I was waiting for Ineos to strike a blow, but Bora-Hansgrohe did a hell of a lot of damage." For the 32-year-old Landa, the podium is not a new departure in his career. This result pushes me forward and helps me believe in what I can do and how I can challenge myself in the future," he said. And with a tenacious rider like Landa, he has finally re-captured the Giro podium.