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.