Basque climber Mikel Landa now has the chance to make his mark in the Tour de France with new team Bahrain-McLaren.

Landa joined the team just as motor-racing giant McLaren ramped up its support to become co-owner and Rod Ellingworth, from Team Sky/Ineos, became team boss.

"Yes. Finally, I found the the opportunity here. I think they have a really clear goal. And I just arrived in the best moment," Landa told FloBikes.

He responded to the #FreeLanda joke that had been going around in recent years, when Landa was locked down working for Chris Froome in the 2017 Tour de France and stuck with two other co-leaders, Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, in Team Movistar.

"In Movistar, it was more difficult. We were three leaders trying to do our best," Landa said looking back over the years.

With team Astana he placed third in the Giro d'Italia. In Sky, he was fourth in the Tour de France, one second from third place Romain Bardet. With Movistar, he finished seventh and sixth overall in the last two editions of the Tour.

"Yeah, the last four years I did the Tour de France, I've been close. I had a lot of experience before working for Froome, later trying to win my own. I have enough experience," he continued.

"It's possible to win. Winning is pretty difficult but being on the podium, why not? Here with the support of Bahrain-McLaren, it can be possible. Why not?"

This 2020 Tour de France, starting in Nice on June 27, favors Landa with its many explosive stages and few time trial kilometers. Plus, having Ellingworth revamp the team, with helpers like Wout Poels joining, cannot hurt Landa's chances.

"They they gave me the opportunity of being the leader in a Grand Tour, this year at the Tour. Also McLaren can help me and the team a lot with technology, giving me a lot of advantage in the time trial," he said.

"That's very important for me and also opportunity of being a leader, being well-supported. It's what brought me here."