Enric Mas attacks Cuitu Negru and puts himself back into the fight for La Vuelta victory - "Confidence has always been one hundred percent"

Enric Mas has shown today that Puerto de Ancares was an off day and that he is still the strongest in the mountains along with Primoz Roglic in this Vuelta a España. He has put in a strong performance at Cuitu Negru, being the first of the GC riders to cross the line; taking time on Ben O'Connor but also sending a message to Primoz Roglic that he is still very much in the fight for the race victory.

In statements to the Spanish media, the Movistar Team leader was very satisfied with his performance in a pass that he described as "very hard", he was glad that Ancares had been the result of a bad day and assured that he would fight for the third week, although now he will be looking forward to the rest day:

"Today I had a moment where I almost didn't make it to the finish, it was very hard, I've seen almost 40 times the video of Purito (Joaquim Rodríguez, ed.), Bala (Alejandro Valverde, ed.) and Alberto [Contador] here, it was very hard," he described. Mas did not match the early attack of Primoz Roglic, but that was a good strategy as he avoided exploding as was the case only a few days ago. Riding at his own pace, he was able to claw back to the Slovenian in the gruesome gradients of the Asturian climb and even drop him. At the finish Roglic did manage to come back, but Mas was still very strong and also took time on the rest of his rivals in the podium fight.

"We have a lot of Vuelta, there's a lot left, let's enjoy it. Confidence has always been one hundred percent. The other day I said that I expected a good moment and now it is confirmed that it was so. Ben has done a very good stage, little by little, we hope to have caught the others, little by little recovering time. We're going to attack on the rest day, we're going to take it with enthusiasm, it's been a very hard week and we've got a very hard week ahead of us," he concluded.

Mas continues to be 1:40 minutes behind Roglic but is now only 2:23 minutes away from the red jersey; whilst he also won valuable seconds on Richard Carapaz and Mikel Landa.