Enric Mas does not shy away from competing with Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard: "We can't go out and think that there's nothing to do"

Enric Mas arrives at the Tour de France 2024 very excited after a season in which the results have not quite come to him. That's no surprise. In the Mallorcan's best years, in which he has finished on the podium in the Vuelta a España or finished among the top six in the Grande Boucle, he didn't have an impressive start to the campaign either.

He arrives at the Tour after two consecutive withdrawals and after a Vuelta a España in which he finished in sixth place. He comes to a race in which, at first glance, it seems that there are strong GC riders like Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic or Remco Evenepoel. As if that were not enough, there are cyclists who have shown more than him lately as Adam Yates, Carlos Rodriguez, Joao Almeida, Juan Ayuso, Simon Yates and even Mikel Landa although he goes as a domestique.

As Chente García Acosta commented in an interview with Diario de Navarro, "there are 4 to win and another 12 more or less equal". With those, Movistar "only" accompanies Mas with two domestiques in this Tour and Enric himself told Marca that the team will go for everything, stages and general, and that he feels very well:

"The sensations are very good. We have a great team that can fight for everything, for the overall, stages and to be present in breakaways."

Full of confidence beyond his results, Enric does not shy away from the fight with Pogacar, Vingegaard and company:

"The objective is to come here to compete with the best. There are some opponents who have shown that they are out of their league, but we can't go out and think that there's nothing to do. We're in good shape and we have to go for it".

He is clear that Movistar Team's position at the bottom of the UCI WorldTour rankings is circumstantial and that they have the squad to fight with the best:

"The points are deceiving. We are going to fight to be the team again, we are going to fight to be a better team and return to being top class."

He finishes by talking about Jonas Vingegaard, making it clear that he believes the defending champion will be fit and that his rivals will try to test him in the early stages of the 2024 Tour de France:

"He is going to arrive very well. I'm sure he's fine if they've brought him in it's because the form will be optimal. It also seems clear that the rivals are going to test him. They will surely pull hard to see how Jonas responds in the first four or five stages."