“We’ll focus on ourselves and try to win a stage” – Enric Mas lowers Vuelta ambitions with Tadej Pogacar looming over home Grand Tour

Enric Mas is showing solid form at the Vuelta a Burgos, but his message ahead of the Vuelta a Espana is notably more cautious than in previous years.

The Movistar Team leader sits fourth overall in Burgos heading into the decisive final stages, having remained competitive in the mountains without yet matching Felix Gall, Oscar Onley and Giulio Ciccone.

Mas returned to the race eight years after his previous appearance, using it as part of his preparation for the Vuelta rather than as a major objective in its own right. “After 2017, I would like to put together another good general classification here,” Mas told AS before the start of the race.

He arrived in Burgos after a specific preparation block that included recovery following the Tour de Suisse and another spell at altitude with Movistar Team. “We raced San Sebastian the other day and we have come here as preparation for La Vuelta,” he said.

Mas also acknowledged that there was still some uncertainty over how his body would respond after returning from altitude. “I’m really looking forward to this final part of the season,” he said. “There is also a bit of a question mark because, of course, we have come down from altitude and we don’t know how we will respond. It’s true that the sensations in San Sebastian were good, so after all that altitude work, hopefully we can be good again.”

His first days in Burgos have at least offered encouragement. Mas has remained in the fight near the front of the general classification and enters the decisive mountain stages with the podium still within reach.

Before the race, however, he had already kept expectations in check. “I would like to be in the top five because the level is very high, but we are also going to focus on the stages,” he said. “We will try to take it day by day, which is important.”

That same approach now carries into the Vuelta a Espana. Movistar have historically arrived at their home Grand Tour with Mas as a clear GC reference, but his comments this time are centred more on stage wins and taking opportunities as they come.

“The work is focused on that, on winning stages and taking it day by day,” Mas said. “I think that with the team we are taking to La Vuelta, we can try to win a stage.”

Mas remains positive about the route itself. “I really like it,” he said. “The fact that the whole Vuelta is around the Mediterranean is something that motivates me. I think we can adapt well to that heat and to the type of roads we will have throughout the race.”

Tadej Pogacar will start the Vuelta after claiming a fifth Tour de France victory, immediately setting a formidable benchmark for the rest of the general classification contenders.

Mas was asked directly about the Slovenian before the start of Burgos, but chose not to frame Movistar’s race around trying to beat him. “We’ll focus on ourselves and try to win a stage,” he said.

For a rider who has repeatedly gone to the Vuelta as one of Spain’s main GC hopes, that is a more restrained target than usual. His form in Burgos still leaves room for ambition, but Movistar’s public focus is increasingly on stage opportunities rather than building the entire race around a challenge for red.