The time has come for
Enric Mas to give a blow on the table. We have known the preliminary list of
Movistar Team for the
Tour de France 2024 and there is no doubt that the Spanish team will put all their eggs on the back of the Majorcan climber. And it's his turn to prove that he deserves the confidence that year after year they have in him to lead a team that historically has been a protagonist in the Grande Boucle.
As analysed by
CiclismoAlDia's Juan Larra... Thus, they have announced 5 of the 7 riders who, unless there is a last minute change due to a physical or tactical problem, will accompany the 3 times runner-up of the Vuelta a España:
Movistar Team Tour de France 2024:
Aranburu, Alex
Cavagna, Rémi
Formolo, Davide
Mas, Enric
Mühlberger, Gregor
Oliveira, Nelson
With respect to last year, Aranburu, Mühlberger and Oliveira will be back. Formolo would enter, who we imagine would have the freedom that Jorgenson had last year (yes, after Enric's abandon) and with Cavagna they would try to have a reliable rider to accompany him on the flat. We don't know if they will give Oier Lazkano the chance or not to ride the Grande Boucle for the first time in his career; seeing his great level in Dauphiné it would be a shot in the foot not to do it despite his departure to Red Bull BORA in 2025.
No excuses for Enric
So, as we say and as it is clear from the lineup, Enric has no excuses. His team continues to have full confidence in him and continues to add riders to help him in his quest for a potential top 5 in a Tour that is going to be very expensive with riders who are clearly in another league, such as Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard, with others that Mas has managed to fight against (although he has always finished behind) as Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel and with many others who, today, seem stronger than him as Juan Ayuso, Adam Yates, Felix Gall or even his former teammate Matteo Jorgenson.
At 29, Enric Mas has never failed in the Vuelta a España, where he has finished second three times, fifth once and sixth in five of his six participations. It may be of concern that he finished sixth last year behind the Visma trio, Ayuso and Landa, not showing good sensations.
In the Tour, however, he has two consecutive withdrawals after finishing fifth in 2020 and sixth in 2021. He is far from those times in which he seemed to hold up in the mountains with the best until almost the end, hence we say that he is facing his last chance, before the moment to prove that he can be with the best climbers in the world beyond that he will lose time in the time trials.
