Opinion: Movistar will hope that Remco Evenepoel doesn’t become weapon of Mas destruction in La Vuelta

Mas has ridden a solid if unspectacular fifth Vuelta. None of the GC contenders has as many top 10 finishes as the man in red as the 27-year-old Spaniard, yet never has Mas looked likely to blow up this race in the way that Roglic could well have done had he not been floored at the very moment he was pulling the trigger.

The 42 seconds Mas gained over Evenepoel in Sierra Nevada on Sunday represent the sole occasion that he has put the Belgian tyro under serious pressure in this Vuelta. But it came on what was arguably the only occasion where Mas was likely to inflict any sizable damage.

But these gentle climbs are manna from heaven for Evenepoel; he could devour them for breakfast with his eyes closed. What’s more, these gentle climbs – and none of the serious steep stuff we usually associate with La Vuelta – are all that remain on the menu this week.

Two ascents of the Cat.1 Alto de Piornal on Thursday won’t offer the kind of launchpad Mas needs because the gradient is no more than a gentle 5% slope. The preceding climb, the Cat.2 Alto de la Despera, offers hope with a 9.4% gradient over 3.7km but comes a whopping 80km from the finish.

The twice-climbed Puerto del Pielago in Stage 19 is 9.3km long but only boasts an average gradient of 5.6% with the finish coming after a 35km descent.

It looks like it will all come down to the final mountain test of the 77th edition, where the finish comes some 6km after the summit of the fifth climb of the day. This intriguing ride through the Guardarrama mountain range is similar to the penultimate stage in 2015 when Fabio Aru seized the red jersey off the shoulders of Tom Dumoulin at Cercedilla – so there is, at least, some kind of precedent to ensure the GC battle goes down to the wire.

While none of the gradients – including the two ascents of the Puerto de Navacerrada that bookend Stage 20 – are particularly feisty, coming as it does after three hard, hot weeks, we can’t rule anyone out from suffering like Dumoulin seven years ago. And the three-kilometre rule won’t apply in any stage now save the final processional ride into Madrid…

But does Mas have what it takes? Naturally conservative by nature, Mas is a stayer rather than a go-getter, a follower as opposed to an instigator. There’s good reason why he has just five pro wins to his name – and why the only stage race in his palmares is the Gree-Tour of Guangxi.

This is intended to be no slight: his is a career that most pro riders would be proud of and he still has many years ahead of him in which to flourish. But given the trend towards young riders winning major races – as we have seen with the likes of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and perhaps now with Remco Evenepoel – Mas could well find himself usurped by compatriots Juan Ayuso and Carlos Rodriguez, both of whom are currently battling for the final place on the podium in their debut Grand Tour, a combined age of less than one Alejandro Valverde.

Mas is no doubt fully cognizant of the magnitude of the prize within his grasp – just as he is well aware that Evenepoel has never gone beyond the seventeenth stage of a Grand Tour before.

“I have a good time over the third, fourth and fifth rider,” he said after testing his legs on Wednesday. “To be honest, I don’t know what we’re going to do tomorrow. If we have good legs, good feeling, the atmosphere in the team is super good so, yeah, we have to do something, no?

“It’s true that [Evenepoel] is a super rider, but we know he doesn’t have the experience for the third week.”

Asked whether he saw any weaknesses in his rivals in Stage 16, Mas replied with what was a perceptible smile from beneath his mask: “Of course.”

It will be fascinating to see how much Mas – the 2018 and 2021 runner-up – is prepared to lose in his bid to finally go one step higher on the final podium. But with Movistar just one rider down, the Spanish team must now go all-in behind their leader in the hope that Evenepoel doesn’t prove himself to be a weapon of Mas destruction.

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