Bad day does not demotivate Enric Mas' ultimate dream: "The goal is to win the Vuelta"

Movistar Team were the squad that took responsibility today in the peloton to make the race hard but in the end it did not pay off. Enric Mas looked strong at the start of Puerto de Ancares but then cracked and lost valuable time to Primoz Roglic who moved closer to the red jersey of Ben O'Connor.

One by one the riders of the Spanish team spent time in the head of the peloton, setting a strong early pace to put in the fatigue on their rivals. On the climbs they do not have the team to do this, but the final ascent would be so steep that team support mattered little. Mas acknowledged that since the start of the climb to Ancares he had felt empty and that he hopes it is just a bad day and that there may be a script twist between now and the finish in Madrid on Sunday, September 8:

"Hopefully it was just a bad day, downstairs I felt empty that's why I couldn't relay with Primoz, hopefully it's just today," he said. "As I said, I hope it's just a bad day, let's continue as it was. The bad feelings came at the end. Nothing, let's keep going. The goal is to win the Vuelta. Until today I was feeling very good, I had to try, maybe I got overexcited and I couldn't, but let's keep going like this".

With 1:40 minutes it will not be easy for the Spaniard to take time on Primoz Roglic, who has a very strong BORA team backing him up. However, after the performance that he put on the Alto de Hazallanas last weekend, the Slovenian must not feel safe even with the current 1:40-minute lead.