"It could be the perfect day," Enric Mas said hopefully on Thursday evening when he was asked about stage 19 of the Vuelta a España. And it was, but just not for him. Primož Roglič was operating on a different plane on the Alto de Moncalvillo, and there was little that Mas or anybody else could do when he cruised away with 6km of the climb remaining.
Although Mas briefly regained some ground on Roglič on the upper reaches of the ascent, the Movistar man must have known his resources were dwindling rapidly. In the final two kilometres or so, his deficit swiftly doubled, and he crossed the line fourth on the stage, some 50 seconds behind the new red jersey Roglič.
"I came in empty, I couldn't sprint," said Mas, who was caught and passed by David Gaudu and Mattias Skjelmose within sight of the line. "Primož won and he also took time. I can only say congratulations."
The curious tactical configuration of this Vuelta has meant that Roglič's Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe teammates have often managed to avoid the responsibility of policing the bunch. There must have felt a sense of foreboding in the peloton when they took up that burden so willingly on Friday, spending the bulk of the afternoon ensuring the early break remained within touching distance on the long, flat run-in to the Alto de Moncalvillo.
"We knew that Primož was going to act today because he likes stages with only one climb," Mas said, but no amount of forewarning could really prepare the other podium contenders for the astonishing violence of Red Bull's collective effort on the climb itself.
Roger Adria's early work burnt off some notable climbers, but the most startling moment of the Alto de Moncalvillo came with a little over 6km to go, when Daniel Martinez took up the reins and set a pace so ferocious that only his teammates Aleksandr Vlasov and Roglič could follow.
Mas, like Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and red jersey Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R), didn't even dream of following. From the moment Roglič disappeared from view with his retinue, Mas et al realised they were now racing for second place overall at this Vuelta.
"Richie and I didn't do anything, because we knew Primož is very strong in this kind of effort," Mas said. "Very few people in the peloton or in the world can do that kind of effort. Jonas [Vingegaard] and Tadej [Pogačar] are at the same level, but the rest of us have to manage ourselves a bit more."
Moncalvillo
When the Vuelta a España last came this way in 2020, the Alto de Moncalvillo had been something of an ordeal for Mas. Burnt by that experience, he was never likely to play with fire here. He gambled on the idea that Roglič's effort might start to gutter on the upper part of the climb, and he kept his flickering hopes alive by closing to within 20 seconds of the Slovenian with just under two miles of hard road to go.
That was as good as it got. Roglič's pace only ever slightly cooled off, while Mas began to struggle ever more visibly as the finish line drew nearer. "For a while, I was managing it well, I was there at 18, 20 seconds," he said. "But in the end, I was empty, and two riders came past me."
Although Mas conceded a minute to Roglič once time bonuses were added to the bill, he did succeed in gaining 13 seconds on Carapaz and 59 seconds on O'Connor. In the overall standings, Mas remains third overall, now 2:20 behind Roglič but only 26 seconds O'Connor's second place.
All of a sudden, Mas' Vuelta is taking on a very familiar guise. While Roglič is within touching distance of equalling Roberto Heras' record of four overall wins, Mas knows that a fourth second-place finish is now the summit of his ambitions in Madrid, even with a heavy day of climbing to Picón Blanco on Saturday.
"The objective is to win, but we have to be aware that Primož is now 2:20 ahead of me," said Mas, previously second in 2018, 2021 and 2022. "We will try to go for second place. We'll have to do things differently than we did today. Tomorrow there are 5,000 metres of climbing, so we're going to enjoy it."
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