Enric Mas Rising Star

[Koronin]

Yeah. I definitely believe Mas and Soler are GT and TdF podium material. I like the direction Movistar are taking -- a Spanish team with the country's two best young(ish) grand tour riders. It's a good marketing story line, too, which I wouldn't discount.

Maybe no podium this tour for Mas as there are too many past winners (and past GT winners) in the lineup, but if he hangs around the top 5, and a few breaks go his way, why not? You could say that for about 15 riders this year it seems.

I need to brush up on Mas a bit. He always flew a bit under the radar for me. Probably because i'm not used to seeing a QS jersey mixing it up on the mountain stages!

It's not like Quickstep is a GC team, so they really don't have the riders to support a GC rider. He started with Quickstep in 2017 (first year at the World Tour level) and then got that Vuelta podium the following year. I don't think Movistar is expecting a podium at the Tour from him this season. I think they are hoping to see leadership abilities and improvement. I do think he's currently the best young Spanish GC rider and that is meaningful to Movistar. You're right about marketing story line for a Spanish team and Spanish sponsor. I suspect if Mas shows what they are hoping for, he could be marketed as the heir apparent to Valverde.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Last year at the Tour he was also sick for the first set of mountain stages.

Did he say this, because during the TDF Lefevre explicitly said he was 'not' sick.

Yeah. I definitely believe Mas and Soler are GT and TdF podium material.

Wrong thread for it, but that seems a very bold statement. If Soler ever reaches the TDF podium, i think a lot must have gone wrong for a lot of riders. He turns 27 right after the Giro, so we'll know more by then. Personally I have a difficult time predicting where he'd end up in the GC there, now that he can ride for his own accord. I shouldn't be surprised if he cracks the top 5 (but maybe i would), considering the talent he supposedly has. But i don't think i'd be very surprised if he tumbles out of the top 20 either.

 

[Koronin]

Did he say this, because during the TDF Lefevre explicitly said he was 'not' sick.


Wrong thread for it, but that seems a very bold statement. If Soler ever reaches the TDF podium, i think a lot must have gone wrong for a lot of riders. He turns 27 right after the Giro, so we'll know more by then. Personally I have a difficult time predicting where he'd end up in the GC there, now that he can ride for his own accord. I shouldn't be surprised if he cracks the top 5 (but maybe i would), considering the talent he supposedly has. But i don't think i'd be very surprised if he tumbles out of the top 20 either.

That was reported several times during the telecast that he was sick during the first mountain stages of the Tour. I remember several people saying he was sick even though Lefevre was saying he wasn't.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

That was reported several times during the telecast that he was sick during the first mountain stages of the Tour. I remember several people saying he was sick even though Lefevre was saying he wasn't.

Well, it would depend which people said it, i guess. I can only hope his manager would know better than guys in the commentary booth. Could be a lot of people making assumptions, and other people taking that as fact. Anyway, doesn't really matter much, it was a TDF quickly to be forgotten for him personally. I don't think anybody believes that was "his level", considering he's shown he can do much better.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Well done on your 5th place at the Tour young man. No idea why you was downbon page 6.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Well done on your 5th place at the Tour young man. No idea why you was downbon page 6.

Yes, a 5th was about the best possible result for him this year. Next year he will be better earlier on in the race, he is a great GT-rider in the mold of the other diesels like Mancebo and Sastre.

 

[perico]

Very satisfied. Overshadowed by Pogacar and the hype but a good result with a lot to build on. The criticisms from Dan Benson and Ed Pickering have been unfair and over the top. Pretty much the entire Anglo-centric media have been crapping on Movistar for years and it gets old.

I realized earlier today that it’s been over 4 years since 1 single Spaniard has been featured on the cover of Pro Cycling magazine. Hell Contador is the only one on the cover since 2009 and that was likely because he couldn’t be ignored.

No Landa, no Purito, no Valverde, no up and coming features, No cover about the cause of the downturn of one the most talent rich nations.

but 3 cover stories of Greg Van Avermaet, and Simon Yates? Esteban Chavez cover story? Never podium Adam Yates? Check. Not one cover featuring Landa. Hell they were giving Wiggins a cover two years after he retired.

They don’t want to focus on talents like Mas more power to them, but don’t act like he doesn’t exist. Sorry for my rant, but its a bit off putting.

 

[Koronin]

Very satisfied. Overshadowed by Pogacar and the hype but a good result with a lot to build on. The criticisms from Dan Benson and Ed Pickering have been unfair and over the top. Pretty much the entire Anglo-centric media have been crapping on Movistar for years and it gets old.

I realized earlier today that it’s been over 4 years since 1 single Spaniard has been featured on the cover of Pro Cycling magazine. Hell Contador is the only one on the cover since 2009 and that was likely because he couldn’t be ignored.

No Landa, no Purito, no Valverde, no up and coming features, No cover about the cause of the downturn of one the most talent rich nations.

but 3 cover stories of Greg Van Avermaet, and Simon Yates? Esteban Chavez cover story? Never podium Adam Yates? Check. Not one cover featuring Landa. Hell they were giving Wiggins a cover two years after he retired.

They don’t want to focus on talents like Mas more power to them, but don’t act like he doesn’t exist. Sorry for my rant, but its a bit off putting.

They've been trying to ignore and act like Valverde doesn't exist for years. So it should be easy for them to do that to someone who doesn't have the palmares of Valverde.

Nice 5th. It's also obvious that Valverde has hand picked Mas as his success for Movistar.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Hadn't noticed the topic was already bumped to the first page so i went to look for it in the "riders topic" in order to find it. Thought i'd be the first since he's been largely overlooked.

He rode a rather anonymous Tour, but very efficient imho. It's a pity the "power train" tactic by the big teams works so well, because it makes it harder for a rider like him to attack (which is obviously the point, i know). Dancing climbers don't get a chance to shine anymore if they ride for GC, unless they can outlast the power train.

 

[skippo12]

I think that was his best performance so far. Compared to his 2nd place in the Vuelta he just faced better opponents. Good to see that he is back on track. He probably will never live up to the initial hype (Valverde-Contador comparisations) but he should be able to add more top 10 GC results to his palmares in the coming years.
Maybe he is not Valverdes heir but the 2nd coming of Zubeldia.

 

[Koronin]

I think that was his best performance so far. Compared to his 2nd place in the Vuelta he just faced better opponents. Good to see that he is back on track. He probably will never live up to the initial hype (Valverde-Contador comparisations) but he should be able to add more top 10 GC results to his palmares in the coming years.
Maybe he is not Valverdes heir but the 2nd coming of Zubeldia.

Maybe not heir, but successor. I think we're actually witnessing Valverde handing over leadership of the team to Mas.

 

[gregrowlerson]

They've been trying to ignore and act like Valverde doesn't exist for years. So it should be easy for them to do that to someone who doesn't have the palmares of Valverde.

Nice 5th. It's also obvious that Valverde has hand picked Mas as his success for Movistar.

A really great result for Mas, especially considering his apparently disappointing 2019 season. I think this 5th place result shows that Mas can be a regular outside podium contender in GT's in the coming years. And maybe he will even do a decent Vuelta ride again this season.

 

[lenric]

Getting Majka vibes with Mas, but I hope he proves me wrong.

 

[perico]

Time to bump this thread back up.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think its closer to 50-50 than people think. Id definitely put my money on Mas considering Roglic seems to be a lot more favored.

This is gonna be great. I genuinely believe he will win this race.

 

[roundabout]

well, I think Gamoniteiru is the only long-ass long decisive climb remaining where things might be different, but on the 35ish minute climbs I doubt that Mas will be able to make up significant ground.

 

[Eeslliw]

I think its closer to 50-50 than people think. Id definitely put my money on Mas considering Roglic seems to be a lot more favored.

This is gonna be great. I genuinely believe he will win this race.

Without TT, maybe. Mas will ship atleast 1 minute in TT. So he needs to find around 2 minutes till TT. Is it possible? Absolutely, only one bad day from Roglic and super day from Mas and it's there. But still 50-50 is optimistic. More like 70-30 in Roglic way.

 

[Valv.Piti]

well, I think Gamoniteiru is the only long-ass long decisive climb remaining where things might be different, but on the 35ish minute climbs I doubt that Mas will be able to make up significant ground.

Yes, but if youre just a bit better, it can still be a minute. If youre a lot better on the day, we are talking 2-4 minutes. And this IS Roglic' weak point in my opinon. You obviously know this, but we are talking Mortirolo, Stelvio, Agnello, Angliru difficulty of a climb, but if I'd choose a MTF best suited to put infinite time into Rogla this would honestly be it

 

[perico]

I think its closer to 50-50 than people think. Id definitely put my money on Mas considering Roglic seems to be a lot more favored.

This is gonna be great. I genuinely believe he will win this race.

I think he has a chance. He’s gotta take a 1:30 by the end of the Gamoniteiru stage or it’s gonna be shaky. Mas is a good TTer when he’s in form and the parcours is favorable, but He will still need a gap because he wont beat Roglic head to head in a TT (to be fair, I don’t think anyone else could right now).

 

[Pinot's goat]

Slightly less extreme version of Pello Bilbao, he seems to need quite a bit of racing to find his top form almost like he does not know how to train properly. Most likely rider to succeed Nibali 2016 as next home grand tour winner, he likes thee steep gradients.

 

[roundabout]

Yes, but if youre just a bit better, it can still be a minute. If youre a lot better on the day, we are talking 2-4 minutes. And this IS Roglic' weak point in my opinon.

I think for Mas to gain that much on one climb Roglic would have to be somewhere around 10th or even worse out of the favorites on the day and I am not sure that this is really likely.

But I hope that there at least will be a battle.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I think for Mas to gain that much on one climb Roglic would have to be somewhere around 10th or even worse out of the favorites on the dat and I am not sure that this is really likely.

But I hope that there at least will be a battle.

Yeah well it also depends on how the climb is raced. If youre going from the bottom, this day can be total carnage

 

[SHAD0W93]

I hope Mas can win to change things up and show he can reach that next step.

On the other hand I also want Roglic to win and win points and KoM.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Slightly less extreme version of Pello Bilbao, he seems to need quite a bit of racing to find his top form almost like he does not know how to train properly. Most likely rider to succeed Nibali 2016 as next home grand tour winner, he likes thee steep gradients.

Like Landa as well as Bilbao.

Although Mas himself had not a lot race days when he got 2nd and stage win in 2018. He crashed on Wallonie and DNF, his only race days between June and that vuelta.

Vamoooooo Enric. If he want the Vuelta it has to be Pistolero style

 

[Pinot's goat]

Like Landa as well as Bilbao.

Landa does seem better at getting into competitive form in the early season races than Mas or Bilbao although Landa does seem to need a lot of races to go from 95% to 100% as partly shown by this Vuelta. Mas will likely struggle to peak for a Giro as it comes too early in the season. His best chance of winning the Tour might actually be following a Giro attempt lol.