When the curtain rises on the Vuelta a España this Saturday in Barcelona, together with three-times winner Primož Roglič, Enric Mas will be one of just two GC contenders present who can boast more than one previous podium finish in the Spanish Grand Tour.
Yet for all his considerable past experience in the Vuelta, with his three runners-up spots in Spain stretching back to 2018, Mas recognised earlier this week that rather than being a standout favourite, the strength of this year’s field of contenders will mean he is “flying under the radar" in the race.
Mas was last seen in action in the Tour de France’s opening stage, when a crash and broken shoulder blade in the race's first major pile-up left him out of the running on day one.
The time he needed afterwards to get back to full strength, as well as a training crash, have only added to the uncertainty over where he will stand in the Vuelta's initial GC hierarchy, Mas said. His only option is, therefore, to go “day by day” and see where that takes him.
“I had that bad crash in the Tour, and it’s taken me a while to get back to my top level,” Mas, 28, said in a press conference on Thursday.
“Let´s see how it all goes in a three-week stage race. I hope my body responds in the best way possible.”
Mas said he had spent a long time without riding his bike after his Tour abandon and had started off with a little gym work - only to crash again when he skidded on a white line while out training in Andorra.
However, since then, he had trained “very well and in-depth” for the last three weeks and had spent some time at altitude into the bargain.
“I missed out on the Vuelta a Burgos, nor did I do the Giro or Tour before that, so I hope that I will start the Vuelta feeling fresher than some of my rivals,” he reasoned.
However, he pointed to Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who easily saw off Mas to take the overall victory in the 2021 Vuelta a España, as the top contender.
“There are plenty of top riders in good shape, but maybe Primož is in the best shape, better than [Remco] Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) or Jonas [Vingegaard - Jumbo-Visma].”
“The other day when he won in Burgos in the [summit finish of] Lagunas de Neila, he did so without even getting out of the saddle.”
In comparison, Mas said, “I'm flying under the radar, that’s for sure.”
Mas insisted that while the depth of the field was notable, but that it was necessary to keep a sense of perspective and remember they were only human as well. “You can’t look at these riders as winners of the Giro or Tour,” he said, “otherwise you’d end up in trouble yourself.”
Mas said that, as well as the Vuelta, his final objectives of the year were the Italian Autumn Classics, where he took a fine win last year in the Giro dell’Emilia ahead of no less a rival than Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), and Il Lombardia, where he finished second behind the Slovenian.
“For the last two years, I’ve had strong starts to the season, but then the results don’t come,” Mas, who quit the 2022 Tour de France with COVID-19 before taking second last year behind Evenepoel in the Vuelta, pointed out.
“I need [good] results for myself and my team. It can’t be that an entire year goes by with no results after all the sacrifices I’ve made, whether those results come in the Vuelta or in the Classics that follow.”
Concluding on a defiant note, he said, “I have to go on thinking that my options of the podium in the Vuelta are realistic. I have to start the race looking for the overall win, and then depending on how the race plays out, I'll finish where I finish.”
