The 2022 Cycling Season is already looking very competitive for Movistar Rider Enric Mas, he aims to win the Tour De France and Vuelta an España in one go. The interesting thing is that he is also looking forward to beating his long-term rival Tadej Pogačar who currently rides for the UAE Team Emirates.
Beating the 2021 Tour De France champion Pogačar will be very challenging but Mas feels extremely motivated. When asked about his strategy for defeating the current champion, Mas simply replied, “That’s a complicated question”.
Then he added,
But the answer is simply working as hard as possible and then working hard some more.
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Mas has high hopes for the upcoming season and wants to get a head start to practice for the Tour De France. He spoke during the Movistar Women’s and Men’s Team Presentation for 2022 and expressed his eagerness for the tour.
Speaking alongside his teammates Alejandro Valverde, Annemiek van Vleuten and Emma Norsgaard, he stated that this time he would be acting as the sole leader of the Blue Team in terms of the Tour De France. Mas feels really competent and proud of his team and aims to push the boundaries.
Mas stated,
I’m 27, so it’s time to go it alone, sixth last year and fifth in 2020 in the Tour. But let’s not forget that Valverde will be with me in the Vuelta an España.
The answer to winning the competition lies in changing the form and techniques used, this is what Enric Mas agreed upon. Becoming an aggressive rider and improving performance in the time trials is how we can be successful.
Enric Mas is not the only Movistar rider with big goals, from the women’s side we have Van Vleuten who is also aiming for the Tour De France.
Vleuten stated,
I’ll use la Vuelta [Ceratizit Challenge by la Vuelta] as build-up, but the World’s seems tough, and a good course for me.
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On the other hand, Valverde-the ultra veteran said that this will be his final season. Although he did say that this season would be last, he did not mention which race exactly will be the end of his season so speculations are open.
Valverde stated,
There’s no need for me to go on, it’s the end of a cycle. The principal goals for this season are to stay healthy and not get injured.
Team Movistar is also reportedly planning to produce the third edition of their extremely popular documentary series El Día Menos Pensado, with this one they plan to look back at 2021 with all the performance and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
Movistar will be kicking the 2022 season very soon, the Men’s team start the season with the Challenge de Mallorca slated for January 26 and the Women’s team will start their season with the Vuelta CV Féminas which is scheduled for February 6.
One of the main things that we are looking for is the part of Miguel Ángel López in El Día Menos Pensado. We all know that his sudden exit greatly impacted the success of Team Movistar. Maybe the documentary will answer these burning questions.
Featured Image Via Instagram/enric_mas_
