"The tension there is staggering" - Enric Mas' description of the Tour de France

After an impressive 2022 that featured a victory at the Giro dell'Emilia and achieving his third 2nd place finish at the Vuelta a Espana, Enric Mas is steadfast in his goals for 2023, "I ​​am convinced that one day the bell will ring for me."

One would think that having already finished 2nd three times previously and being a proud Spaniard himself, the unfinished business at the Vuelta would be Mas's priority and that would be correct. "The Vuelta? I already have three second places. When will I win it?" he asks Relevo. "Hopefully in 2023… We will certainly work hard to be ready."

Alongside the Vuelta in Mas's focus for 2023 is the Tour de France. Twice having finished in the Top 10 in France, Mas was disappointed with his showing there in 2022 even before he was forced to withdraw through covid. "The Tour is 'the race,'" he says. "It's different there. The tension there is staggering."

With the recently retired Alejandro Valverde leaving big shoes to fill both at Movistar and in Spanish cycling in general, Mas hopes to be the man to step up in his former teammates' absence. "The way Alejandro treated people, the way he behaved... I tried to learn as much as I could from him," Mas says. "I hope, in the years to come, to be able to grow as he did.”