His voice might 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 a variety of Vuelta a España left.
Atop the Puerto de Ancares on Friday night, one puzzled if Mas was slowly placing apart ideas of profitable this Vuelta. The Spaniard had impressed throughout the opening half of the race, at all times current and proper each 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 somewhat completely 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 remaining mile or so of racing.
Roglič clawed his manner 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 Purple Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe staff automobile after switching bikes forward of the ultimate climb.
Because the Vuelta reaches its second and remaining relaxation day in Asturias, Mas is thus third general, now 2:23 behind purple jersey Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R) and simply 1:20 behind the favorite Roglič. Even earlier than studying of that extra achieve on Roglič, Mas had declared himself happy together with his afternoon’s work.
“My confidence has at all times 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 this time it appears like that was the case.”
Mikel Landa had ignited the attacking within the purple 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 manner 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 purple jersey O’Connor within the Vuelta a España GC standings.
“O’Connor has accomplished 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 am going to 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 have been the Zapruder movie. “It was actually exhausting. 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, putting second general in 2018, 2021 and 2022. It stays to be seen if he can bridge the ten-year hole and turn into Spain’s first Vuelta winner since Alberto Contador in 2014, however he was bullish concerning the concept on Sunday night.
“We have got a variety of Vuelta left,” Mas mentioned. “There’s lots left and we’ll must take pleasure in it.”
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