"We came to win and I'm not happy" - Enric Mas fails to find joy in another Vuelta a Espana podium finish

Enric Mas tried on the slopes Picón Blanco on stage 20 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana, but could neither win the stage nor take second place from Ben O'Connor. After the race, resigned, he regretted the final result:

"It's what it is, we can't ask for more. The whole stage went very fast, it's true that we would have liked to catch O'Connor a little more time, but it wasn't possible," reflects Mas ruefully. "The stage also got away from us and, nothing, I'm not happy at all, to be honest."

The Movistar Team leader tried to count on the collaboration of a Richard Carapaz who was not up to much and did not help him: "We didn't understand each other, I thought Richard was going to collaborate a little more, but I couldn't get too excited because Richard is not that far away and, nothing, we just have to accept the reality and hope that tomorrow we will do a super time trial".

He hopes to take second place in a special time trial, however, Mas also made clear that he had come to win: "We have to be optimistic, we have to go to sleep thinking about that, that the time trial is going to be super, we go out and we arrive home, so with the strength of everyone and that of the presi we are sure it will go well. The podium is something nice, let's hope we can take 9 seconds off and climb another position, but we came to win and I'm not happy. I don't know how much Roglic is ahead of me now and it's two minutes, which is very difficult".