Enric Mas on Vuelta a Espana goals: "I really have to win it once"

Enric Mas has now finished on three occasions as the runner-up at the Vuelta a Espana, and heading into 2023 his ambitions will be of improving that results. The Mallorcan has talked about his performance in this past Grand Tour.

"Of course I am happy with my performance, but on the other hand I am disappointed because I did not win," Mas shared in an interview with Het Nieuwsblad. “It means something to be on the podium of a Grand Tour. But it is already the third time that I have been second in La Vuelta. I really have to win it once."

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In 2018 Mas surprised to finish in the second position of the Vuelta behind Simon Yates, and then had a few more modest years, until 2021 where he proved to be Primoz Roglic's main competition in the race. In 2022 he experienced a bad year with several crashes ruining his chances in his main goals, until the Vuelta arrived and he showed his best form in the mountains of his home Grand Tour.

“I could have won more time at Evenepoel on Sierra de la Pandera and Sierra Nevada," Mas recollects, in the days the Belgian struggled. "Especially on Sierra de la Pandera it could have been better. There I made the mistake of reacting immediately to an attack from Roglic and I blew myself up a bit.”

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Mas looked to be dangerous for Evenepoel's lead in the second half of the race, but when it came to the final mountain stage of the race, he couldn't create the gap once again. “In the penultimate stage my legs weren't super enough for an all-or-nothing attack," he admits. "But let's be honest: in Madrid I was still two minutes behind Evenepoel, not twenty seconds. Did I really leave it somewhere? This Vuelta has taught me lessons for the future. I'm going to try to be more attacking in my good days and survive smarter in my bad days."

After the Vuelta however Mas kept his top form for a whole month, winning the Giro dell'Emilia after impressively dropping Tadej Pogacar, and then rivalling the Slovenian again at Il Lombardia where he rode into a second place.

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“Proof that I'm always good after a Grand Tour. Maybe I should think about riding the Giro first and then the Tour. My program for 2023 has not yet been set, but it will probably not differ much from previous years: Tour and Vuelta," he concluded.