Mikel Landa knocked off bike by hit-and-run driver

Bahrain-McLaren rider Mikel Landa has been treated in hospital after he and a training partner were knocked off their bikes by a hit-and-run driver while riding near the capital of Spain’s Basque Region, Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Landa, who is due to make his racing debut for his new team at the Tour of Andalusia on 19 February, was not badly injured in the incident, but said his companion was more seriously hurt.

Speaking to Marca yesterday, Landa said: “I’ve got nothing broken and I feel well so I’m going home although tomorrow [ie Sunday] I will return to the hospital to take more tests.”

The 30-year-old related what had happened in a post on social media yesterday, accompanied by a picture of himself in hospital.

“This morning, while training with a friend, a car rammed us from behind with the driver fleeing.

“Initial tests confirm that everything is okay. I hope to return to training in the next few days.”

Marca says that the motorist involved, who was driving a Renault Megane, had been arrested and was being detained by police after failing a drugs test.

Police reportedly identified the driver after finding the vehicle abandoned and confirming that damage to a wing mirror was consistent with debris found at the scene.

Riding for Movistar, Landa was sixth overall in last year’s Tour de France, the fourth year running that he achieved a top-ten placing, and while at Team Sky he finished third overall at the Giro d’Italia in 2015, his highest Grand Tour placing to date.