If you aim to make a big Tour de France, you don't go to Dauphiné to take almost nine minutes. This is what Leonardo Piepoli thought when reading Enric Mas's numbers, that he has been training for two years now to the Movistar Team. They knew they'd done a good job. Data in hand, the Spaniard had never performed so poorly since 2021. And even if the French race has never brought him luck, his performances at the Tour have always been of a different nature.So how can we explain this lapse? Is there any reason to worry?
«At first I wasn't so calm – admits the Apulian – then we found out he was sick. He told us and hadn't said so before for fear people would think he was making excuses. He had dysentery. Given all the work done, at least now we have a plausible explanation and we can work in the right direction. Furthermore, it has the advantage or misfortune that the Movistar they don't know what pressure is and it's understandable why he didn't make a drama out of it."
You mentioned a lot of work: the last race was Liège, then what did Mas do?
A little holiday, then it was home to Mallorca, finally he went to high altitude in Andorra. He worked really well.
What answers were you looking for from Dauphiné?
Whatever answers we were looking for, Let's not look for excuses: it just went slowlyNow we're all convinced it was because of the belly, but in any case we have to take some positive things from it. Il Dauphiné it was needed to take a further step towards the TourIf he had paid for the return from the high ground, he could have finished fifth or sixth. Maybe there was one stage where he would have done well and the others he wouldn't. Instead, the Dauphiné was disastrous, but this won't make us change our line.
Will there be no corrections?
His figure will only change if, within the next three days, he hasn't recovered and continues to have problems. But if the hysteria passes and he resumes training properly, there's little that can be done. In his career he always did very badly in the Dauphiné and then he did better in the Tour, so he didn't take it too badly. Personally, I wanted to come away with other ideas. Thinking about the fact that we're missing a change of pace rather than endurance... On a personal level, this leaves me a little confused.
What is there to do now?
I'm thinking about it. I hope the dysentery has passed. It's usually hard to heal when you're under stress., but now that he's had time to recover and take a few walks, maybe he's put it behind him. We'll see it at the first training sessionIt will be the usual long, calm outing, and from there we'll see how he is doing, and I'll have instructions on how to behave.
There are just under twenty days left until the Tour, what do we do from now on?
As we said, if the Dauphiné had gone normally, we would now know that perhaps we need to work on the time trial or on other aspects, on the weak points. Whatever had to be done, has been done. Now we'll have to figure it out as we go.The start of the Tour isn't easy, but if Enric is healthy, there's no need to worry. He's always been very strong, except last year when he stopped due to Covid. So I'm not worried about how I can get to the first stages of the Tour, even though we haven't had the chance to work it out.
What does it mean?
That under normal circumstances, he would have left the Dauphiné with some margin left. Enric doesn't have the engine pogacar o vingegaard, so to be at their level, he has to do things perfectly, continuing to grow until the start of the Tour. Those two may win races at 80 percent of their condition, we have to be beyond our peak.
Will he compete in the national championships?
No, because he then wants to do the Vuelta and ride to Lombardy, for which he has a weakness, going to the national championships in Madrid risks being a wasteIt's a long way away: you could fly there, but it's probably too close. But it's definitely too far to drive, almost five hours. So he just stays home.
So the possibility of including a Tour of Slovenia or a Tour of Belgium wasn't considered?
The team doesn't do them, but I don't think adding a stage race before the Tour would do any good.. When someone arrives who has been doing things right for months, as in his case, if you reach a good condition, then the recovery, assimilation and race management skills come back to the surface and put you back in your place.
And do you think it will still turn out well?
I believe that it will arrive in decent condition, but I can't say whether he'll finish fourth, just a few seconds off the podium, or eighth, a minute away. In those cases, we'll be able to understand if and to what extent the Dauphiné, as it is, has penalized us.
How is he doing?
He's calm, as if nothing had happened. After the race, he called me on Sunday and he was very calmHe has his own perception, he's not crazy. He knows he has worked well and it is not a dysentery that changes the valuesThat's true. And all things considered, it's better that it happened at the Dauphiné than at the Tour. Then again, there are always unlucky moments, and this might raise the bar even higher. On the other hand, if you haven't worked well and have overlooked certain details, you feel very vulnerable. I also found out late that he was ill.When the time trial also went wrong, I wrinkled my nose. In the mountains, it was clear that something was wrong.
Will you go to Andorra to follow him to the Tour?
I confirm: I'm going this weekend. To try to understand, listen, and put all the pieces back together.
