"It's a bitch how much time O'Connor was given" - Enric Mas gives brutal reaction to upturned Vuelta a Espana GC

Enric Mas did not speak after the sixth stage of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, in which he lost his podium position and saw Ben O'Connor launch nearly five minutes into the lead of the race.

Speaking after stage 7 however, the Movistar Team leader gave a brutal assessment and admitted that what happened the prior day is far from good for him. "It's a bitch what happened to us because it's a lot of time, there's nothing we can do," he assesses.

On stage 7, which ended with a win for Wout van Aert, he acknowledged that it is the classic day of the Vuelta, fast, beautiful, hot and in which Marc Soler could have won but the work of Sepp Kuss prevented it. "It was a nice stage, fast, we enjoyed a nice day. We were warned, we knew it. It was a Vuelta a España stage. A final pass in Cordoba in the heat. Marc didn't win because Kuss was at his best," Mas assesses.

In the general classification today Enric Mas has gained one place and is fourth after being left out of the main group on the Florian Lipowitz climb. The Mallorcan is 5:23 behind the leader O'Connor and 24 seconds behind the third place on the podium which is currently held by the Portuguese UAE Team Emirates Joao Almeida;