From whippersnapper to renaissance man – across his ten-year career, Mas has gone from the next Spanish sensation to nearly man, and now he’s back on top at the Vuelta that’s central to it all.
Kristof Ramon, Gruber Images, Cor Vos
“Guess who’s back into pro cycling? Viva Enric Mas!”
I received this message on the morning of stage 13 of the Vuelta a España from one of the first friends with whom I ever talked cycling some 13 years ago. While I became more and more embedded in the pro racing side, his focus has become more off-road and adventure based. But the resurgence of Enric Mas has brought him back.
24 hours after our exchange, Mas passed his next test on the stage 14 finale up the Sierra de la Pandera, where he increased his buffer to over two minutes ahead of the crucial time trial to come. Eight years after winning his first Vuelta stage in 2018 – in hindsight not the broken floodgate it was meant to be at the time – the 31-year-old Mallorca native looks poised to win the race that has been a cornerstone of his career.
“I’m a cautious kind of guy, and I’ve had lots of setbacks, but I think this is the best form I’ve had in my career,” Mas said after stage 9 victory in the red jersey. “It’s also one of my most beautiful moments of my career, one of the best since I won that stage and finished second overall in the Vuelta as a young rider back in 2018.”
Mas has been around the block. Since turning pro with Quick-Step Floors in 2017, he enjoyed/endured a meteoric rise in those early years, climbing to his first Grand Tour stage win at the 2018 Vuelta, and with it, securing his first Grand podium. At the time, Spanish media was stirred into a frenzy – “A star is born,” wrote AS reporter Juan Gutiérrez.
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