"Movistar Team has not approved, but Enric Mas’s Giro is not disappointing at all"

The Giro is about to end, what assessment of the team’s performance at this point?

Well, a little bit what I already said when I spoke on the first day of rest, that the days go by and we are not getting the reward we deserve in the stage victories, although this is difficult. We have made two second places, but one day for specific interests, and others for another, the escapes do not arrive and those options have not been able to be taken advantage of and there are fewer days left.

Are you confident that Movistar’s big day will arrive at the Giro?

Without a doubt, the important thing is that the cyclists and the team are well. What happens is that the third week, and with the added difficulty of the stages, is being for people who are very well, since to the wear and tear of the race we must add the difficulty of almost all the stages. There are many teams, too many of us, without having achieved stage victory. We cannot aspire to anything other than stage victory, given the impossibility of thinking about the general classification. The first thing we have to do is be in the breakaways, unless Vingegaard wants to win in the remaining high finishes. Until now he has not forgiven and we do not know if he has had his fill yet.

At the moment, Tadej has already completed four stages and has the Pogacar record of six within reach.

It is the luck that some have, 80% of the peloton fighting for a stage and others to achieve the record of victories.

Until the arrival of the Blockhaus, Movistar and Enric were fine.

At the beginning, in the mountains, the team was good, it was just that Enric, in his capacity as leader to make the general classification, unfortunately could not be there. The first two finishes confirmed that perhaps Enric’s lack of competition was somewhat to blame for not achieving the performance we thought, among other things because he was already feeling better in training, but he had to pass the first mountain exams, and it is clear that he still needs to improve to have the muscle tone we thought.

In fact, Enric when he spoke with MD in the Volta already said that his goal was to make a podium in the Giro or La Vuelta.

Yes, and these words only justify what we said, that his personal feelings corresponded with the desire to achieve that objective, and, really, in the Giro we have run out of options to fight for the general classification, but we have La Vuelta left and, above all, for Enric to regain that moment of confidence. Waiting for the Giro to be the race that returns Enric to his best moment of personal performance. Let’s hope that the Giro will serve us for this, in addition to trying to fight for the remaining mountain stages and trying to take advantage of the opportunities.

But he knows that the fans always ask more from the Movistar Team.

And they are within their rights. In recent years in the Giro, Einer Rubio went out to do the general, and somehow this year we wanted to change. In the stage that Arrieta won, the fifth, he was on the run, but as a result of the inclement weather of the day he suffered hypothermia. The cold affected him and canceled it, and we went from having been able to flirt with the general classification to losing almost 20 minutes and having to forget about it. In fact, we had difficulties finishing the stage. And we stayed with Enric Mas’s option, until the Blockhaus arrived, where he had the first finish high and where we unfortunately discovered that he did not have the necessary legs, the legs that he thought and we wanted. From this stage, two days later it was confirmed that he was not ready to fight with the best and the objective of the general classification went to hell, and we are now focused on the Giro serving us to once again find the best version of Enric.

Do you think Enric’s Giro is disappointing?

At all. What I meant when I spoke of suspense: at the conclusion of the first week we had not approved what we had gone to the Giro for, but the Giro is going to give us other objectives and we have to trust that three long weeks of competition will serve to return us to the best Enric. It is what we have to settle for and fight for the victory of some stage, but of course it was disappointing with respect to the objective with which we had started of fighting for the general classification. We have not approved, but other interests open up for us.

And, how are you seeing the career development?

When you reach the third week, each day serves more to confirm the dominance of the great favorite and the strongest, Jonas Vingegaard. When this happens, unfortunately everyone’s concerns disappear, the attraction that could have existed last year, that until the last day the Giro was alive. Today the attraction has been reduced to stage victories and knowing who will accompany Vingegaard on the final podium. Sometimes, if the greats are not together, it is difficult for there to be surprises, but these years both have already demonstrated their dominance, and this dominance in grand tours, when one of the two is not there, multiplies. And this is a bit of the cycling we are in today, in which we race thinking about the points, and this way of running makes us see somewhat surprising things. This cycling model and this points system is what condemns us to the fact that the race is blocked.

And after the Giro, the Tour de France that leaves Barcelona.

There is a desire for Tour. With the departure from Barcelona, ​​the 1992 Grand Départ in San Sebastián comes to mind. Leaving home is always a plus, with what it means for the cities that host the Tour’s departure. Everything takes on a great dimension, which I hope the people of Barcelona and Catalans enjoy, that they enjoy the greatness of our sport and that everyone ends up enchanted.

Movistar Team, with what ambition will you go to the Tour de France?

We will go excited. We will go with a good team, with the will to fight from the first day, doing a great team time trial. Furthermore, we will be leading the team for the first time with Cian (Uijtdebroeks) and we have the challenge of trying to have a good overall and we will see the stages pass by, especially in the Pyrenees, although they are not too selective, the Central Massif and the Alps. Looking forward to seeing the young people, like Seixas or Cian; Let’s see if we all put Pogacar in difficulty, which is a bit of an incentive. Pogacar has earned enough merit to be the big favorite, but the grand tours are long and things happen. Let’s see if we in the Tour are on the side of positive surprise.

If he wins, Pogacar will equal the five Tour victories of Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain.

I think that there will be no challenge that cannot be overcome. I think it will be difficult, but it is not impossible; First you have to win to tie and then win again to overcome it. We will see.