His voice could have been muffled by his face masks, however Enric Mas’ phrases within the media scrum atop Cuitu Negru nonetheless had the sound of a rallying cry. “Tenemos mucha Vuelta,” he mentioned – we have numerous Vuelta a España left.
Atop the Puerto de Ancares on Friday night, one questioned if Mas was slowly placing apart ideas of profitable this Vuelta. The Spaniard had impressed throughout the opening half of the race, all the time current and proper every time Primoz Roglič accelerated, however he suffered the indignity of being burnt off the Slovenian’s wheel within the finale of stage 13, dropping a minute within the course of.
The complexion of Mas’ Vuelta appears to be like somewhat totally different after a spirited show on the mist-shrouded peak of Cuitu Negru on stage 15, the place he caught after which briefly distanced Roglič on the dizzying slopes within the last mile or so of racing.
Roglič clawed his method again as much as Mas’ rear wheel earlier than the end line reared into view amid the gloom, however the Spaniard might at the very least declare one thing of a psychological victory. He would additionally obtain a tangible, if surprising reward, at day’s finish, when the race jury docked Roglič 20 seconds for drafting behind his Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe crew automobile after switching bikes forward of the ultimate climb.
Because the Vuelta reaches its second and last relaxation day in Asturias, Mas is thus third general, now 2:23 behind pink jersey Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) and simply 1:20 behind the favorite Roglič. Even earlier than studying of that extra acquire on Roglič, Mas had declared himself happy together with his afternoon’s work.
“My confidence has all the time been 100%,” Mas mentioned. “The opposite day [on Puerto de Ancares] I believed it was simply going to show to be a foul second, and at the moment it appears to be like like that was the case.”
Mikel Landa had ignited the attacking within the pink jersey group after his Soudal-QuickStep squad had set the tempo for a lot of the afternoon, however the Basque didn’t discommode any of the rostrum contenders.
The lie of the land among the many favourites modified with the topography. The gradient ratcheted inexorably upwards on the 3km stretch that introduced the race from the acquainted climb of the Pajares to the summit of Cuitu Negru, which featured simply as soon as earlier than, again in 2012.
As anticipated, Roglič seized the initiative right here, accelerating after his teammate Florian Lipowitz had upped the ante, however the Slovenian could not reprise his Ancares exhibition, and Mas battled his method again as much as his wheel earlier than briefly dropping him.
Mas would end fourth on the stage, 1:04 down on the winner and earlier escapee Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma), however forward of all of his GC rivals. He picked up 9 seconds on Richard Carapaz (EF Schooling-EasyPost), 23 on Landa and, crucially, 38 on the pink jersey O’Connor within the Vuelta a España GC standings.
“O’Connor has executed an excellent stage, however I am getting there, little by little,” Mas mentioned. “I do not know the way a lot I’ve put into the others. However little by little, I will carry on making up time.”
Mas had by no means raced up Cuitu Negru, however he had pored over the footage of the Vuelta’s 2012 go to as if it had been the Zapruder movie. “It was actually arduous. I’ve seen the video of Purito, Valverde and Contador greater than 40 occasions,” he mentioned. “And sooner or later, I assumed I would not make it to the end.”
Mas arrived at this Vuelta on the again of a lacklustre Tour de France, however he has a behavior of pulling out large performances at this race, inserting second general in 2018, 2021 and 2022. It stays to be seen if he can bridge the ten-year hole and change into Spain’s first Vuelta winner since Alberto Contador in 2014, however he was bullish in regards to the thought on Sunday night.
“We have got numerous Vuelta left,” Mas mentioned. “There’s so much left and we’ll must get pleasure from it.”
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