Enric Mas’s “click” and how he overcame his fears

enric mas (Artá, Baleares, 28 years old), spent almost a month after leaving the Tour de France scared of the descent with a smile shown at the start of the Tour in Utrecht. His own attitude, colleagues like Alejandro Valverde and the help of a psychologist and an expert in declines led to a very complicated situation.

All one story of overcoming changed the Spanish cyclist in record time, ending the 2022 season with victories and trying to beat Tadej Pogacar himself. A renewed cyclist after a process calculated in detail TVE journalist Josué Elena in the documentary he signed entitled “El clic, reboot of a champion”: the story of how Enric Mas overcame his fears.

The author of the documentary, who lived “un situ” throughout the process of the Mas crisis, returns to the eighteenth Hautacam stage of the 2022 Tour, where the entire process of fear appears in the form of “forgiveness”, of test. on the part of the cyclist to justify a performance he did not expect. A distress call fulfilled that day after losing 7 minutes at the finish line and dropping to eleventh place overall.

But he was faithful that day: “Since falling in the Dauphiné, I feel an inner fear on the descents”he said then. Later, in Mallorca and before TVE cameras, he recalled that “every descent was a test. I don’t remember anything about that Tour.”

VALVERDE’S PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Yes, Juan Carlos Escámez, his masseur at Movistar, remembers this, making sure “But I was going down the ports like a trailer, completely blockedwithout even following a companion “, a view shared by Alejandro Valverde, who also went through the same trance as his former classmate.

“It happened to me in 2012, I had a bad timeI’m also afraid of getting off, and in the car, on the highway, I get dizzy, I can’t drive because of a mental block. When I saw Enric at the Tour I knew the same thing was happening to him as it was to me. As I have experienced, I can advise him,” explained Valverde, who first sought help from a psychologist and then a psychiatrist.

THE CLICK MORE IN MALLORCA

Enric Mas, 3 times second in the Vuelta, the last in 2022, tells the documentary the turning point to solve his problem. The cyclist went to his hometown, Artá, surrounded himself with his family and friends and forgot about the bike for a few days. There are 28 days left until the start of the Vuelta. A time trial began.

With the support of his entourage, including Movistar director Eusebio Unzué, Mas put himself in the hands of a psychologist, Jaume Mas, “a boy from Mallorca who is an expert in sports psychology I had a desk with at school and institute and where he had great references”, said Mas in the documentary.

Jaume immediately outlined to Enric the procedure to follow: “You have to discover your thoughts, normalize the situation and change your behavior”, a scheduled process.

MAS AND THE GURU OF SHIPS

Another important step for Enric Mas’ recovery is the relationship with Oscar Saizexbiker, sports coach and downhill expert of any type of cycling. “You can get out of the pit in four days”, assures the TVE camera. “But swimming is one thing and floating is quite another,” he warned.

“Enric contacted me in a moment of trouble, he had anxiety, the problem is serious, but it can be solved. The runner lost confidence because of the fall,” explained Óscar Saiz, who was surprised by ensuring that “the problem can be solved in 4 and 6 days”.

All said and done, using simple descent techniques, Mas underwent a “fresh start”, with tasks more typical of a beginner cyclist and not of an elite athlete.” I had to start from the beginning, but from zero, zero” said Enric Mas.

“From Hell to Silence”, could be another title for the documentary recorded this winter between Sierra Nevada, Mallorca and Barcelona, ​​​​​​​​”The click, restart of a champion”, ending Enric Mas’s happiness on the bike. Not only was he second in the Vuelta, he won the Giro de Emilia, but he was second in Il Lombardía in a duel with Pogacar.

a story that speaks of anxiety, of invisible enemies, of loyalty, of overcoming. How mental health, in an elite athlete, can condition everything.