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Enric Mas Rising Star

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Mas can win this, but it will all depend on Roglic. If he keeps this level, it will be almost impossible, but if he fades a bit, then Movistar duo will make big problems for him.

Kuss to some extent can be the key too, only if Roglic fade significantly worse than all his rivals that his presence in the late selection won't help anything. And I still can't read Kuss.
 
Funny how divided opinions about Mas are in this forum.
just 40 days ago there were comments about him being downgraded to super dom. And today he's being talked like potential Tour winner...
At this point I'd say Sastre-like career, if stars align he could win GT.. Even though he has much better results than Sastre at 26.
Of course, he can prove me wrong and reach the next level.
 
Funny how divided opinions about Mas are in this forum.
just 40 days ago there were comments about him being downgraded to super dom. And today he's being talked like potential Tour winner...
At this point I'd say Sastre-like career, if stars align he could win GT.. Even though he has much better results than Sastre at 26.
Of course, he can prove me wrong and reach the next level.

Anybody who was downgrading him to a super dom at 26 years old had an obvious agenda or were just swooning for Superman because his attacks are so groovy.

Kind of like how in the Movistar thread there was pining for Lopez to be leader at la Vuelta because he looked so good at the Ventoux Challenge. Hell in the Vuelta poll Mas was completely left out (Lopez too).

Don’t get me wrong, I like Lopez, but it was somewhat disrespectful and really ever since the rise of the supertykes on trikes, the 25-28 generation has been just expected to roll over because REMCO! Don’t get me wrong, Tadej is the best GT rider in the world right now, but after him and Roglic, it’s still pretty wide open.

And at least one man is sticking his neck on the line and calling for a Mas upset in the 3rd week.

 
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2015 Giro, tbf. Won 2 uphill finish stages, Lost 4' to Contador on the TT, finished 3'05" down on GC, while working for Aru (2nd @ 1'53") for a lot of the race.
You have to also think Contador didn’t have to respond more to him because he had such a big gap from the TTs gaining close to 5 minutes on him. I’m sure he would have kept closer if the gap wasn’t as big. He was in good shape, even with the crash.

I sometimes find time gained from climbs in the third week deceiving if they lost a lot of time already. Of course they’re not treated as much of a threat as if they were closer in GC.
 
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You have to also think Contador didn’t have to respond more to him because he had such a big gap from the TTs gaining close to 5 minutes on him. I’m sure he would have kept closer if the gap wasn’t as big. He was in good shape, even with the crash.

I sometimes find time gained from climbs in the third week deceiving if they lost a lot of time already. Of course they’re not treated as much of a threat as if they were closer in GC.
That's certainly the case with Aru on Cervinia. Not so sure that's the case with Aprica. I think Contador just tried to follow and bonked.

As for Mas, no doubt he's moving up in the pecking order this Vuelta, but nothing to put him near Roglic or Pogacar yet. Probably near a top Bernal right now?
 
I'm not saying Mas is already one of the best GC riders, I'm saying if he wins couple of Vuelta's, he will certainly be one.

But that wasn’t the discussion that began in the last page, so it’s irrelevant.

either way, 2 weeks ago no one gave nothing about Mas and now we are discussing this. I would say let him win a gt first and then start wondering whether he can beat Pogacar.
 
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Ok, so he wasnt as strong as expected on the Asturian climbs, but he crashed before. I wonder how different he would have looked had it been +30 celsius and sunny since he really seems to thrive in those conditions to me, but we must admit that Roglic is simply a better, more well rounded rider than Enric Mas is.

He is a better rider than Sastre and he managed to fluke a Tour-win. Enric could win the Tour, but the most likely outcome is probably a few podium and 1 or 2 Vueltas.
 
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