"I'm looking forward to going for it" - Enric Mas optimistic for Spanish chances in men's elite road race in Zurich

This upcoming Sunday, September 29th, the Zurich 2024 World Championships will conclude with its main event, the elite men's road race. Among those nations aspiring to achieve a historic result are the Spanish, who take a strong team of potential dark horses.

One of those protagonists of the Spanish lineup will be Enric Mas, who returns to a World Championship for the first time since 2020. The Movistar Team rider will also be competing for the first time since the 2024 Vuelta a España, where he claimed himself 3rd overall, showing off one of the best versions of himself seen in the last years.

For this reason, Mas' confidence is sky high. In addition, as the Zurich World Championship route potentially favours climbers, Mas could not avoid, in statements to the Real Federación Española de Ciclismo, to be excited about going for the the Rainbow Jersey. "The World Championship is a very special occasion, I face it with great enthusiasm and I'm looking forward to going for it on Sunday," begins saying the Movistar Team Spaniard. "The course is tough, you have to think that when we have 200 km left there will still be 70 km on a very demanding circuit in which we will have to try to enjoy the good team we have and the good shape we are in," added Enric Mas on the multiple possibilities that Spain will have to go for the medals in an edition full of superstars.

The Spanish team's expected main rivals for the victory will be Tadej Pogacar, as the great favourite for the world title, 2022 champion Remco Evenepoel, Mathieu van der Poel (reigning world champion) and Primoz Roglic. Slovenia is going with its two best riders to put the icing on the cake of a historic year. The country is the "winner" of the three grand tours of the season for the first time, thanks to Pogacar's double in the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France, and Roglic's victory in the Vuelta a España, precisely against Enric Mas.