Since the Tour ended, he decided to return home with his family, to Andorra, where the heat is not oppressive and the roads are steep. What he likes. For Enric Mas (Artá, Mallorca; 29 years old) it was not a Big Loop He is a typical rider, having lost his way in the first week and a half, but having been revived by the Pyrenees, he has finally got a smile on his face. One that, he says, and shows during the interview because he does not point to his watch and opens up openly, he has not lost as he now faces the Vuelta as leader of Movistar.
Ask. Your team says that contacting you by phone is difficult, why?
Answer. When I’m at home, I try to focus on what I have here, which is my family, my friends… I use my phone more when I’m running. But for me it’s just a tool for talking or writing, I don’t play with it or spend hours looking at it.
P. Don’t like social media? Your last message on X is from October 2023.
R. Well, not really. The truth is that I have someone who manages my social networks. And I don’t even have the X app downloaded on my phone. I don’t go on social networks and I don’t stop to read the comments.
P. Well, there will be everything, good and bad…
R. Oh, sure. But I don’t read them, I don’t care about them. There will be positive ones, of course, and the criticisms, the ones I get from friends or people on my team, I transform them into something positive. Before, when I was young, criticism affected me and hurt me. But over time I have built up a shell and the truth is that I like them and they motivate me.
P. When you went from amateur to professional, no one warned you what you would find, right?
R. No, there is no school for that and no one prepares you for what is coming, whether it is good, bad or average. It is something that should be reviewed. But Movistar has helped me a lot.
P. Isn’t cycling a sport where it’s easy to criticize?
R. Here only one person wins and criticising the rest may be a bit unfair. But we are used to it. Although I don’t think it is only in cycling, because the same thing happens in many elite sports. Either you adapt or you get eaten up. It is that hard. With time, however, you learn to value yourself for the work you do. And here everyone knows what I do.
P. Although sometimes that’s not enough, right?
R. Sometimes not. In the last Tour, for example, I spent a week and a half in which I didn’t feel well. I suffered on flat days as much as on uphill days. I don’t know what happened to me, it’s a question mark. Muscularly I was very bad and I didn’t recover as I normally do. It took its toll on me. Although we were able to turn it around. The Pyrenees arrived and my body changed, and in the last stages I was already the Enric I was before the Tour. I hope that version of myself will be seen in the Vuelta.
P. Is it true that you had trouble sleeping during those days when things weren’t going well for you at the start of the Tour?
R. Not at all. What I do best is sleep. But well, when I recovered I was able to enjoy the Tour a little. That’s how I work, I need to have good feelings.
P. There was a time when he fell several times on the slopes and he was afraid of going downhill, but he got over it thanks to the help of his family and a psychologist. Do you still work with him?
R. Yes, I do. I think it is essential to work on my mind in order to face situations calmly and to be able to perform at my best. If my mind is not calm, my legs notice it.
P. Is cycling about legs or head?
R. That’s all. But the mind has a lot of influence because everything you see, what happens around you, is processed by the head. And if it’s a situation you don’t like and the mind takes it in another direction, it can take away your ability to perform at your best, it takes away your strength. That’s why it’s necessary to work on the mind. I invite young people to do it because it only helps you improve. Normally, teams have their psychologist, but if they don’t feel comfortable with that particular one, because sometimes it’s not easy to open up to a person you don’t know where they come from or who they are, then they should use another one. It’s necessary.
P. Can we talk about this in the peloton?
R. No, no. You don’t tell this to the peloton and even less to a rival. It’s a matter of individual experience. But I can say that it gave me more confidence and made me enjoy cycling again.
P. Have you stopped enjoying your profession?
R. Yes, after the cobblestones of the 2022 Tour I suffered. I didn’t want to know anything about the Tour or the bike. But when I got home, I got together with my people and worked on it, I was able to turn it around. I don’t know, I guess it was a series of falls and I didn’t understand them. But being in the peloton is a dangerous sport because there is a lot of contact and falls. Whether you like it or not, it’s a lottery because you might do things well, but someone in front falls, or there’s a pile-up… You have to understand it and adapt.
P. Do you enjoy cycling now?
R. A lot. I even do it when I suffer on the road. Although it is clear that if you don’t suffer in this sport, you are doing something wrong…
P. And were you able to enjoy the Tour when, given your poor start, you felt free of responsibilities in the general classification?
R. Yes, it was a different way of racing and we knew how to turn it around. But let it be clear that I like to race for the general classification. My podiums are thanks to three-week races. Also, Eusebio (Unzue, general manager of Movistar) wants me for that and that’s what I love, what attracts me most to cycling. It also makes you the leader of the team. These are positive feelings.
P. Are you encouraged that Pogacar, Vingegaard and Evenepoel are not in this Vuelta?
R. I don’t give importance to who comes to the rival teams’ races. Sometimes I don’t even know who will be in a particular race. But the fact that Pogacar isn’t there opens up the spectrum for others because what he does is stratospheric. Giro, Tour and he moves some numbers and does some things in the race that are super out of the ordinary. He wins everything he races. Without him, it’s a little less difficult.
P. Do you see yourself as a winner?
R. I would like to, of course. I love competing and I have the will to win. If I have legs, I am the first one who wants to win.
You can follow EL PAÍS Sports on Facebook and Xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
