🎥 Soudal-Quick Step explains bizarre callback Cattaneo for Landa, Evenepoel reacts after offday

Soudal-Quick Step experienced a disastrous Thursday. The Wolfpack had plans on two fronts, but where Mikel Landa saw his classification in the Vuelta a España ruined, Remco Evenepoel could not keep up with the best in the Tour of Britain.

Landa's massive loss in the Vuelta a España was a big surprise. Soudal-Quick Step made the pace for the Spaniard several times in the last mountain stages, who, fifth in the GC, still had plenty of chances for the podium. However, after EF Education-EasyPost and Richard Carapaz surprisingly opted for the breakaway in stage 18, Landa had to let go.

What followed was unprecedented mismanagement. First, it took minutes for Casper Pedersen to wait for Landa from the peloton before Mauri Vansevenant didn't show up for his leader until much later. To complete the piece, at fourteen kilometers from the finish, Mattia Cattaneo was ordered to wait from the winning breakaway to somewhat limit the damage for Landa.

He barely succeeded. Landa lost track of his teammates and was having a bad day. He lost more than 3.20 minutes —partly due to execution work by rival INEOS Grenadiers of Carlos Rodriguez—and thus plummeted to the bottom of the top ten in the GC. His posture showed that a miracle would have to happen in the coming mountain stages if Landa was to find his best legs there and move toward the top five.

Why didn't Landa get any support for a long time?

Casper Pedersen came before Eurosport's camera afterward. "Our goal was to go for a stage win with Mattia because he always delivers such good work, and this was a perfect day to try. It went well, but Landa had a bad day, so we had to change our plan. We helped him, but we couldn't change much more. Did I come too late? I worked up front for Mattia and heard what was happening on the radio. I rode slowly, trying to work as best I could in the downhill for Mikel."

Speaking to HLN, team manager Iljo Keisse attempted to clarify Landa's bad day. Mikel had no answer to Carapaz's acceleration and followed at twenty seconds, but he didn't get help from Sepp Kuss or Adam Yates, who were in his wheel. Everyone was watching him, one against all, and then you know it would be mission impossible.

Wilfried Peeters said help for Landa came as quickly as possible after he got behind. 'Mattia stood still for eight minutes, waiting.' Keisse: 'Had Cattaneo been there from the beginning, he might have been able to recover quickly, but Mikel also just had a bad day. When his teammates were riding before him, he had to say it was going too fast. You can still have thirty guys waiting for him, but when there's nothing left in his tank, it's cashing in. This was the worst possible scenario for us. We lost the GC and the stage today—a painful day for us.

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Magnier shows himself again, but Evenepoel drops out early

There wasn't much better news for Soudal-Quick Step in the Tour of Britain. Paul Magnier did finish second in the third stage after his stage win on day one, but leader Evenepoel lost early in a stage won by Stephen Williams (Israel-Premier Tech). The Brit also won on day two, consolidating his leader's jersey, which now seems out of reach for Evenepoel. He lost 2.30 minutes and finished 41st.

Speaking to HLN afterward, the Olympic champion explained that he was affected by the low temperatures in the Barnsley region. "It was frigid today. The weather in Spain was much better—a shock on the body. When the final finished, I took my shirt off, which was not smart. After all, it just started to rain," the analysis continued.

That leaves nothing left for Evenepoel but to chase a stage win, although he is doing the Tour of Britain primarily in service of the World Cup in Zurich. He will be the leader there, especially now that Wout van Aert has dropped out of the Vuelta a España, ending his season early. "That was somewhere to be expected if you saw his wound. A knee is always delicate. Wout is professional enough to make the right decision. Whether we can replace him? We have enough other guys who can take over Wout's role. I spontaneously think of Maxim Van Gils, who is riding a solid season. I haven't sent Wout a message yet, but that will happen soon."