Veteran Spanish Grand Tour specialist Enric Mas has played down the significance of catching Tadej Pogačar in the closing kilometres of stage 6 of the Vuelta a España, saying simply that "it was a good day for me, but let's not give it too much importance."
On the bounceback from a long spell of illness and injury, the 31-year-old Movistar racer launched a counter-attack on Puerto de El Bartolo to chase down Pogačar by the summit and, after handling a perilous descent with the Slovenian, then ride with him all the way to the finish.
After such a long time away, this was Mas' most spectacular performance in a Grand Tour in years. And for all his insistence this was not such a big deal, the number of times that Pogačar has been caught on one of his trademark solo breakaways in recent years can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
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Yet four years after Mas clinched his last victory - in the Giro dell'Emilia of 2022, and curiously enough, where Pogačar was also present - that was exactly what the Spaniard managed to do. In the process, he's moved up to second overall at 3:34, too, putting the four-times Vuelta podium finisher in pole position to fight for a fifth between here and Granada on September 13.
"It's been almost two years since I fought for the overall in a Grand Tour, we're on stage 6, and we have to take things little by little," Mas, second at the finish behind Pogačar after the two gained a hefty 46 seconds on their rivals, told reporters.
"Pog' is Pog' and we have to take things on the day by day. I'm second overall, I feel good and thanks to the team.
"I went for the sprint on the top of the climb because the team told me there was a bonus and when I caught Pogačar, I thought - OK, I'll try and get past first. I don't know if he was surprised, but I managed to get those six seconds."
The tricky, technical downhill was almost as critical to the race outcome as the climb itself, with Pogačar briefly going off course after Mas overcooked one slalom but staying upright and able to return to the road. Mas then took charge of handling the descent and even indicated with his hand to his rival, following behind, when the most dangerous corners were approaching.
"I warned him there was a difficult bend, and we had to be alert. There was a moment when I gave it a little too much, the road was a bit dirty because it was cement, but you all saw the way he can handle his bike. He went off course, but by the time I had turned round, he was already back with me."
Mas was also as typically understated as ever about the dangers of the descent, saying, "We knew it was a cement-surfaced descent of the kind we're not used to handling, so I took it calmly; there were a few moments when I skidded, but that's part of racing."
Despite being the first rider to catch Pogačar in a breakaway since Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) tracked down the Slovenian at Amstel Gold last year, Mas preferred to look ahead.
"Tomorrow [Valdelinares] is a summit finish which I think can be important for the team," he pointed out, "and we'll try and get somebody up there."
But for all his refusal to give his achievement too much importance, as little as seven days ago in the pre-race press conference in Monaco, Mas had commented that Pogačar's presence in the Vuelta, "would have a huge influence on the race and he'll do what he wants, one day he'll get a shedload of minutes on us all."
That was certainly true in Andorra, but just two days later, Mas managed to stay on terms with Pogačar on a stage that looked like it was made for the Slovenian to conquer with the same ease he had crushed the Pyrenees.
No matter your perspective, that's an utterly unexpected development and one which provides the race's next summit finish at Valdelinares on Thursday with a whole new level of interest, too.
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