POLL: How will Enric Mas' GC challenge go at 2024 Tour de France?
Cycling
Enric Mas is one of the most controversial figures out of all Tour de France contenders, perhaps because of the high expectations that Spanish fans have regarding the Movistar Team rider. He comes into the Grand Boucle hoping to fight for a strong final result.
Mas has finished the previous two Tours he completed in fifth and sixth, in 2020 and 2021 respectively. He has started the race in both 2022 and 2023 but in both occasions had to abandon due to crashes. Last year, he did not even make it past the first stage, after having impressed at the 2022 Vuelta a España where he showed he had the level to fight for a Grand Tour win.
At last year's Vuelta he finished sixth in a race dominated by Team Visma | Lease a Bike, whilst this spring he rode a conservative calendar thinking of the Tour-Vuelta double for the summer. He was 12th at Tirreno-Adriatico, fifth at Itzulia Basque Country and sixth at the Tour de Romandie. Recently he rode the Tour de Suisse at his expected level, finishing seventh in the overall classification.
Unlike some of his rivals, the 29-year old will not be at the Tour with a strong support team in the mountains unfortunately, which limits significantly the tactics in the mountain stages. The likes of Davide Formolo and Gregor Mühlberger should be his main climbing domestiques; whilst experienced rouleurs such as Nelson Oliveira and Alex Aranburu could be important in the flat finales and the gravel stage which is very much a threat to his GC ambitions.
"I'm not super happy, but little by little we're finding the form we were looking for here," he said at the recent Tour de Suisse. A Top10, even at his best level, should be the realistic aim for Mas as he faces an incredibly strong UAE Team Emirates, Team Visma | Lease a Bike, INEOS Grenadiers, BORA - hansgrohe and Soudal - Quick-Step blocks whilst the gravel stage and the time-trial may be obstacles where he will lose significant time to his rivals in the first week.
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