Enric Mas will try to fly towards success under the radar at the Vuelta: "I have to start the race looking for the overall win and then adapt"

Despite finishing Vuelta as runner-up three times (in 2018, 2021 and 2022) already, Enric Mas is not being thought of as one of the big favourites for 202 edition. Partly due to his Tour de France crash, partly because big guns Primoz Roglic, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel will be under the spotlight at the départ in Barcelona, while the likes of Juan Ayuso will be looking for their opportunities.

"I had that bad crash in the Tour, and it’s taken me a while to get back to my top level," Mas said in a press conference on Thursday. "Let´s see how it all goes in a three-week stage race. I hope my body responds in the best way possible."

Mas said he had spent a long time without riding his bike after his Tour abandon and had started off with a little gym work - only to crash again when he skidded on a white line while out training in Andorra.

"I missed out on the Vuelta a Burgos, nor did I do the Giro or Tour before that, so I hope that I will start the Vuelta feeling fresher than some of my rivals," he reasoned.

"I need results for myself and my team. It can’t be that an entire year goes by with no results after all the sacrifices I’ve made, whether those results come in the Vuelta or in the Classics that follow."

Concluding on a defiant note, he said, "I have to go on thinking that my options of the podium in the Vuelta are realistic. I have to start the race looking for the overall win, and then depending on how the race plays out, I'll finish where I finish."