'He doesn't always have these kinds of legs' - Enric Mas boosts overall lead in Vuelta a España

Enric Mas took an important, if not decisive, step towards overall victory in the Vuelta a España on stage 12 to Calar Alto. After blasting off 11 kilometres from the finish and then fending off a group of chasers including key rivals Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) and Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).

Sixth on the first of four summit finishes in the last two weeks, Mas' move gave the Spaniard a 26-second advantage over Gall and Roglič, with his overall margin now stretching to 1:45 over the Slovenian.

That advantage is beginning to look significant, if not yet definitive. In fact, that gap could have been greater had Roglič, the 2026 Giro d'Italia podium finisher and four-time Vuelta a España champion, not combined to join forces to limit the damage and also been able to count on some strong support near the summit from teammates from the early break.

But Mas' transformation into a far more aggressive racer than in the past, combined with some notable teamwork by Movistar, helped tip the balance in his favour nonetheless for a second straight summit finish.

The result wasn't a knock-out blow, but it reconfirmed his current superiority as the Vuelta's best climber. Equally crucially, it has provided another big morale boost to a rider whose upper limit has often been seen as the podium of a Grand Tour, but never the highest place of all.

"What has happened to the Enric of old?" one experienced cycling journalist asked Mas in his race leader's press conference, referring to the change in mentality or raising of the bar the Movistar rider has managed to achieve.

"Today he's been trying to win the Vuelta," Mas responded, playing along with the idea of talking about himself in the third person. "I hope you enjoy this version of Enric, he doesn't always have these kinds of legs, so let's enjoy it."

Mas has always been one to play down his ambitions, even if he recognised to Eurosport post-stage that he was beginning to feel he was maybe in the form of his life - "it's possible" - he said.

His attack at 10 kilometres from the summit had all the feel of someone willing to throw caution to the wind, in what constitutes a radical change of approach for the usually much more conservative racer.

However, Mas insisted that despite the spontaneous feel of his move, coming when Gall had burned through his domestiques once again and then run out of energy himself and when Roglič was simply following wheels, it had all gone according to the pre-planned script.

"We did what was possible to get the maximum possible; we have to be pleased with what we've got," Mas said. "The plan we had worked out before the stage worked perfectly and everything we wanted to happen, happened.

"I had thought about attacking a little bit earlier, maybe a bit before, where it was harder. But what we did and where we went for it, worked out fine."

Mas' teammates put in a huge effort to ensure the Spanish star could benefit as much as possible from their work, with Ivan Romeo doing a near single-handed job managing the favourites on the upper slopes of the Velefique, with Pablo Castrillo dropping back from the break for some extra support just when Romeo was flagging.

Then after Gall and Decathlon had shredded the GC field on Calar Alto's tougher first half in a very similar way to how they pulled back the break on the Aitana four days ago, Mas' attack enabled him to bridge across to teammate Raúl García Pierna.

Despite not being an out-and-out climber, the former national time trial champion was able to keep Mas forward momentum going, with the Spaniard pushing out the gap on the chase group of Roglič and Gall to nearly 40 seconds.

Once García Pierna cracked, it was up to Mas again to keep driving on alone in the closing kilometres, tipping the balance in his favour for good once again, just as he had done on Aitana.

"It's a pity that we don't have Cian [Uijtdebroeks] here as well, but the circumstances are what they are," Mas said, indirectly referring to the Belgian teammate's first week abandon after an early crash.

"The rest of the team divided up the hard work perfectly, though, and we got the result we wanted. The most important thing is how we worked together, and at the same time I'm feeling more and more motivated and positive."

Mas was equally upbeat about the upcoming challenges, with another major mountain top finish on La Pandera on stage 14 preceding the crunch time trial in Jerez de la Frontera four days before the finish. It has been estimated that Roglič could pull back as much as two minutes there in the 34-kilometre TT.

Quite apart from the continuing uncertainty regarding Roglič's underlying condition, if Mas continues to open up the gaps in the mountains as he has done up to now, the Spaniard may still have the upper hand come what may.

"I'm feeling confident whatever happens," Mas said. "Of course we have to be aware that Primož is a former Olympic Time Trial Champion [in 2021] but we have to focus on whatever we can do."

"I have a good advantage now, but there's a long way to go yet and three more summit finishes to go as well. Above all, we have to enjoy this."

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