“I’ll be better in the third week” - Enric Mas downplays his Blockhaus chances as Giro d'Italia serves up brutal finish

The 2026 Giro d’Italia finally hits pure climbers’ terrain, and Enric Mas knows Blockhaus will mark the race’s first real turning point. The Spanish rider, Movistar Team’s leader for the general classification, tackles stage seven still short of his best, after an opening week packed with tension, cold and crashes, yet his confidence remains intact.

Before the start, Mas struck a cautious tone, far from any major optimism, while hinting that this first summit finish is about finding out exactly where he stands against the main favourites for the corsa rosa.

It has not been an easy first week for the Spanish squad. Crashes have hit the team on several stages, and concern within Movistar rose especially after incidents involving some riders, including Orluis Aular. Even so, Enric Mas offered a relatively positive assessment of these opening days of racing.

“My personal balance is positive,” he told Cycling Pro Net before the stage. “We did have the crashes yesterday. There were three crashes, so the balance is positive because I think they’re fine and there’s no problem.”

Beyond the crashes, the other major adversary this first week has been the weather. Low temperatures and rain have battered the peloton almost from the start of the Giro, a worry for riders like Enric Mas, historically more sensitive to such conditions.

The Movistar leader admitted there is still some uncertainty about how his body will respond after several extreme days. “I’m fine,” he said. “I hope the cold from a few days ago doesn’t take its toll, but I’m happy.”

In a Giro this long and demanding, the effects of cold, rain-soaked days can surface precisely in the first mountain stages, when the legs can no longer hide in the bunch and every rider is exposed to their true form.

For Enric Mas, the day’s objective is not necessarily to attack or try to gain time, but to find competitive sensations after a build-up he feels was disrupted by recent incidents.

“For me, today the important thing is to find the sensations,” he explained. “I think if it’s a strange day we shouldn’t read too much into it, because after the crashes I haven’t been able to train very well.”

That line neatly sums up the Mallorcan’s situation - maximum caution and a long-term view. Mas does not want to draw firm conclusions after the first major summit finish because he feels he is still short of peak condition.

In fact, the Movistar rider sent a message that can be read as a warning to rivals for the coming weeks: “I think I’ll be a little bit better in the third week than I am now.”

Asked whether Jonas Vingegaard could already pull on pink at Blockhaus, Enric Mas all but dismissed that scenario given the large gap still held by the race leader Afonso Eulalio.

“No, the jersey I don’t think so, because it’s seven minutes,” he noted.

However, the Spaniard does expect the Dane’s team to take responsibility for hardening the race on the final climb. “I hope Jonas and Visma are the team that sets the tone for the stage today.”

And there lies Movistar’s key aim for the day: to hang with the best through the Giro’s first big shake-out. “We have to try to stay with him,” Mas concluded.