"I might skip the Tour and go to the Giro": Enric Mas hints at a major 2026 shake-up for Movistar Team

Enric Mas has opened the door to a possible bombshell in 2026 — revealing that he could skip the Tour de France to finally make his long-awaited debut at the Giro d’Italia.

After a frustrating 2025 season cut short by a knee injury sustained at the Tour, the Movistar Team leader didn’t race again for the rest of the year and also missed the Vuelta a Espana. Now, as he focuses on recovery and looks ahead to a fresh start, the Mallorcan has teased a potential change in direction that could reshape Movistar’s Grand Tour strategy.

“I’ll definitely race the Vuelta a Espana next year,” Mas told IB3. “As for the rest, I don’t know whether I’ll take a break from the Tour de France and go to the Giro d’Italia. I’m not sure yet — I haven’t had a meeting with the team directors.”

Mas, now 30, has ridden the Tour de France seven times and the Vuelta a España another seven, finishing on the final podium in Spain on four occasions. But the Giro remains unexplored territory — and with the current dominance of Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard at the Tour, the Italian race could represent his best chance yet to fight for a Grand Tour title.

The arrival of Cian Uijtdebroeks from Team Visma | Lease a Bike could also influence Movistar’s 2026 plans. The 22-year-old Belgian prodigy — one of the biggest transfer stories of the off-season — is expected to share leadership duties across the Grand Tours, potentially freeing Mas to shift focus to the Giro or other objectives.

It’s a change that could make sense for both rider and team. The Giro often features a more open field than the Tour de France, where Pogacar and Vingegaard have shared the yellow jersey monopoly for six straight years. The 2025 Giro, won by Simon Yates after an audacious attack on Colle delle Finestre, showed that opportunists can still thrive when the sport’s biggest stars stay away.

If Mas does opt for the Giro, it would mark a major change in Movistar’s long-standing Tour-first strategy. The Spanish outfit, once defined by its GC ambitions with riders like Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde, has struggled to break the Pogacar–Vingegaard stranglehold in recent years.

A Giro debut for Mas could therefore offer a realistic shot at victory — and a chance to reassert Movistar’s relevance on the WorldTour stage. With Uijtdebroeks emerging, and the team’s 2026 roster looking deeper than it has in years, Movistar could finally afford to split its Grand Tour ambitions.

Whether Mas heads to Italy, stays loyal to the Tour, or doubles down on another Vuelta campaign remains to be seen — but one thing is certain: his next move will say a lot about Movistar’s evolution in an era dominated by cycling’s superstars.