“He flew past me like a rocket... I was a little bit shocked” - Tadej Pogacar explains stunned Enric Mas reaction before Vuelta crash scare

Tadej Pogacar thought he was riding alone towards the summit of Puerto El Bartolo after receiving information that he led by 40 seconds on Stage 6 of the 2026 Vuelta a Espana. Nobody had warned the red jersey that Enric Mas was rapidly closing from behind.

Mas caught Pogacar, surged past him before the summit and prompted an immediate look over the shoulder from the visibly surprised Slovenian. Pogacar then narrowly avoided crashing while attempting to apply pressure on the descent, before recovering to beat Mas in Castellon de la Plana.

UAE Team Emirates – XRG had not begun the stage intending to chase another victory. The team planned to allow the breakaway to contest the finish, but more than 80 kilometres passed before a 16-rider move finally established itself. “We had a plan to let the break go today but it took nearly two hours to form a breakaway, so in the end we had to pull for less than half a stage to bring it together. Joao [Almeida] and Kevin [Vermaerke] did a great job, then I could go for the stage win with Pavel [Sivakov], Jay [Vine] and Pablo [Torres] leading out on the climb and setting me up for the perfect attack,” Pogacar explained.

Joao Almeida and Kevin Vermaerke began reducing the advantage before Pavel Sivakov and Jay Vine continued the pursuit towards Puerto El Bartolo. Pablo Torres then guided Pogacar into position on the climb.

The attack initially appeared decisive as Pogacar left the other general classification contenders behind and began passing the remnants of the breakaway on the gravel.

Oscar Onley briefly followed Pogacar’s acceleration before losing contact. The Slovenian caught Ramses Debruyne at the front and opened a sizeable advantage over Primoz Roglic, Felix Gall, Richard Carapaz and Mas.

The Movistar leader responded more strongly than Pogacar or UAE realised. Mas rode away from the chase, passed Debruyne and brought the red jersey into sight after the longest gravel sector.

“I was just really surprised, on the top, when he [Enric Mas] flew past me like a rocket, because I was hearing on the radio that I was leading by 40 seconds. There was no mention of Enric, so I was a little bit shocked,” Pogacar admitted.

Mas completed the junction on the final approach and immediately moved ahead to collect the ten mountains points. Pogacar looked repeatedly behind, checking whether any further rivals were also approaching.

The pair began the technical descent together, where Pogacar attempted to place Mas under pressure. The red jersey overcooked a left-hand bend, skidded off the road and ran onto the grass.

Pogacar remained upright but was forced to unclip and negotiate the edge of a ditch before returning to the tarmac. Once reunited, Mas encouraged him to descend more cautiously. “I was sure he knew the downhill. I was happy to be with him in the last 10km because I had no water,” Pogacar said.

The interruption allowed Roglic, Gall and Debruyne to close within 15 seconds, with Carapaz and Harold Tejada subsequently joining them. Pogacar and Mas nevertheless worked together on the flatter roads and rebuilt their advantage before the finish.

Mas forced Pogacar to lead through the final kilometre and launched his sprint with approximately 100 metres remaining. “In the end, I knew that I could beat him in the sprint – but I knew I could beat him in the sprint,” Pogacar said.

Pogacar responded immediately to Mas’s acceleration and claimed his third victory from the opening six stages. The leading pair finished 46 seconds ahead of the chase group, moving Mas into second overall while Pogacar extended his Vuelta advantage to 3:34.