"I'm 1:20 off the Red Jersey" - Enric Mas refusing to give up on Vuelta a Espana dream

Stage 16 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana again saw Enric Mas at a very high level on the final climb to Lagos de Covadonga. Although he didn't manage to gain time on Primoz Roglic, the Spaniard entered the finish line ahead of Ben O'Connor.

The Movistar Team leader is showing very good legs, and he's still confident he can make the breakthrough needed to go on to win the overall Vuelta a Espana. Speaking just after the end of the stage, Mas was very excited about the rest of the race, and confident of finishing ahead of Roglic in the classification: "The feeling is great. Primoz is 5 seconds off the lead, so I'm 1:20 off the red jersey," he assesses.

Mas already tried to surprise the group of favourites with an attack 57 km from the finish on the climb to Collada Llomena, but it didn't manage to snap the elastic: "We tried our luck on the previous climb, but things didn't go as we wanted," he admits. "Today I pulled more, others did it on other days. When I saw that they were on the wheel when I made the attack I knew there was no hardness and I had to stop. It's time to continue".

Finally, Enric Mas talks about what is still ahead in the Vuelta a Espana: "Today we enjoyed the Lagos, I ask the gods to improve the weather next time, I did not see anything on the descent, Primoz either, but good. Tomorrow is Santander, and we can not rule out stages because people are going very fast".