Enric Mas couldn’t shake off Primož Roglič on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España, but the Spaniard appears to be warming to the idea of winning this race in Madrid next Sunday after an aggressive display at Lagos de Covadonga.
Mas’ attack 7km from the mist-shrouded summit placed red jersey Ben O’Connor in difficulty, and he kicked again a mile or so later with a move that only Roglič, Richard Carapaz and David Gaudu could follow.
That quartet would reach the finish together, putting just under a minute into O’Connor, a result that leaves Mas still third overall, but now just 1:25 off the red jersey, while Roglič lies second overall at five seconds. “The feeling is great,” Mas told reporters after he had changed in a tent beyond the finish line.
After he conceded a minute to Roglič on the Puerto de Ancares on stage 13, Mas’ Vuelta looked to be conforming to a familiar narrative. Although he has been a consistent performer in this race over the years, placing second on three occasions, there has always seemed to be an upper limit on what he could achieve.
Mas responded to his setback on the Ancares with a spirited display at Cuitu Negru on stage 15, where he briefly distanced Roglič before the Slovenian battled his way back up to his wheel before the finish. The Movistar rider continued in a similar vein on the road to Lagos de Covadonga on Tuesday, while Roglič largely followed a policy of containment.
Indeed, Mas even looked to ape Roglič’s race-winning move of 2021 here, when he set his Movistar team to work on the penultimate climb of Collada Llomena with 60km or so still to race. After a long turn from Nairo Quintana and an injection of pace from Einer Rubio, Mas accelerated more or less at the point where Roglič attacked with Bernal three years ago.
The move petered out once Roglič and the other podium contenders had bridged across, and O’Connor’s Decathlon-AG2R squad took up the pace-making thereafter, but it was still a statement of intent from Mas and his team.
“We tried our luck on the penultimate climb, but things didn't go the way we wanted. Today I pulled more on the front, others did it on other days,” Mas said. “When I saw that they were on my wheel after I made the attack, I knew that it wasn’t hard enough and so I had to stop. It was time to follow then.”
He would try again on the final ascent to Lagos de Covadonga, but only after his compatriot Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) had ignited the attacking in the red jersey group with a determined effort 9km from the summit. Mas launched the first of his efforts with 7km remaining, while he even briefly appeared to trouble Roglič with another acceleration with 5.5km.
From there, however, Mas, Roglič, Carapaz and Gaudu played out something of a score draw beneath a shroud of low cloud and rain. The low visibility allied to two, sinuous downhill sections in the final 3km tempered any further aggression in the group.
“We enjoyed today at Lagos, but I hope the weather improves next time. I couldn't see anything on the descent, but neither could Primož, so that's OK,” said Mas, who smilingly chided reporters for suggesting the next major rendezvous would come on the next summit finish on the Alto de Moncalvillo on stage 19. “Tomorrow is Santander, and we can't discard that stage because people are going very fast.”
Landismo
Few departed the finish area as fast as Roglič, who deftly dodged the media scrum and descended swiftly to his Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team bus. O’Connor’s battling performance means Roglič was spared a visit to the podium and press conference on Tuesday, but with a deficit of just five seconds on the red jersey the Slovenian is now the clear reference point for the GC men.
A headline on the Marca website on Tuesday evening, meanwhile, spoke optimistically of the dream of a “final alliance: Landa and Mas versus Roglič.” Both of the home hopes were certainly on the front foot at Lagos de Covadonga, even if their aggression didn’t yield any material gain on Roglič.
Indeed, after attacking early at Lagos de Covadonga, Landa was caught and passed by the Roglič-Mas group, though he managed to limit his losses on them to eleven seconds, a result that leaves him fifth overall, 2:18 off the red jersey.
“I wanted to try from the bottom of the climb in case any of the favourites cracked, but in the end nobody cracked and it was all a matter of seconds,” Landa said on crossing the line. “Every day that passes it gets more difficult – but every day there is also less to lose.”
Landismo never dies, in other words, and the Basque had generous words, too, for O’Connor’s defence of his jersey on the final climb. “I'm happy that he’s kept the jersey,” Landa said. “He's riding well, his team is being brave, and I'd be happy if he won it.”
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