Enric Mas: “I am very critical of myself. I demand a lot from myself and I am not going to change”

The first snowflakes have appeared Andorra and they painted the landscape white. Collected in the warmth of your home, Enric Mas He is enjoying the warmth of his family these days on a well-deserved vacation after another very difficult season, and especially his son, who is about to turn one with his partner. Maria Bel.

Enjoying a well-deserved vacation.

Well, now I am calm at home and this is the most important thing for me now, enjoying my family and friends, and little else. Enjoy the woman, the child and life. Now what we’re looking for, what I’m looking for, is calmness, which after a whole year of traveling is what I like the most.

What is your assessment of this season, where can we say it ended with a good taste in your mouth?

A positive balance, but I sincerely believe that we can get better results, at the beginning of the season we can do better. In Tirremo I didn’t perform as planned, in Catalunya my performance was ok but not super, when I was ahead, and in Romandie and Switzerland I didn’t see the best sensation.

Why this lack of sensations?

I think for next season we have to change a little bit in training and that’s it. We haven’t finalized the 2025 team calendar yet, but we have to make different plans. I’m clear that I have to work differently next season, but what’s more, in the end there aren’t many secrets either.

He is very critical of himself.

I am always, always very critical of myself, and I really believe that there are moments in the season where we will see an Enric Mas that is ahead of me this year. This is who I am and I won’t change. I try to push myself, ask a lot from myself and get to the races in the best possible shape. I am a sincere man.

In any case, he was seen with better legs in the latter part of the season.

Well, the last part was pretty good, but it wasn’t super either, with the podium at the Vuelta, fighting for silver and bronze at the World Championship and at the last Italian classics we were good, but not perfect.

Do you talk about season planning with the team? Do they let you choose?

The team does one very important thing and that is to ask the rider what schedule he wants to do, and then both sides discuss it and decide together. I think it is very important that the team let the runner speak, value their words and come to an agreement.

What will be the pillars of your career program in 2025?

I want to have a good start to the season, a good winter and most races in the summer.

Some have already put him in next year’s Giro d’Italia.

We don’t know yet. I have conveyed my wish to the team and we will talk about it in due course. I love Italy, but I still don’t know the Giro calendar or route. The routes of the Giro stages, the atmosphere of the stages that can be seen on TV and the comments of my colleagues, all tell me that the Giro is beautiful.

And on the Tour, will you see yourself again next year?

Honestly, I don’t know. I hope it will be a tough Tour (the interview took place before the presentation of the 2025 Tour route) as we are used to.

2025 will be his seventh Tour and his best result is 5th in 2020.

The Tour is a race that I like a lot. It’s true that it’s a race where I didn’t perform very well, but I really like it and it’s the most important cycling race in the world and the best runners have to be in the best races.

?What should you improve as a runner to have better performance on the bike?

improve? As you gain more experience, each year you notice your career perspective changing.

Have you overcome your insecurity on downhills?

It’s just a disagreement.

In 2025 your contract with Movistar Team ends, do you want to continue?

We haven’t sat down to talk, but I want to continue with the team, I’ve been with the team for six years.

Tadej Pogacar dominates the races as and when he wants, how to deal with him?

It’s clear what he’s doing. In Lombardy we all know where he will attack and in the World Cup we expect him to attack later. He does amazing things.

What surprised you the most about Pogacar’s performance?

On the outside you can see that he is a confident runner, that he knows what he has to do and then there are times when he surprises, like in the World Cup, when he sees the opportunity and is perfect. He does things that are very difficult to do.

This time they honored his downfall.

I always say that the issue of falls is a lottery and every year there are runners who are luckier than others and this year I was unlucky. With a serious fall you need to be out for days, weeks or months and depending on the extent of the injury, it is best to stop and think about the great goal you have set.

Do you know the danger you ran on a bike, that changed cycling, where it goes faster and faster and everything is fought hard?

This is a sport where in every race we risk our lives, but we know it and the risk we run, but it’s simple, when you fall you have to get up and get back up.

Do you know the criticisms you receive especially on social networks?

I don’t listen to criticism. I limit myself to do what the team and the family tell me, I don’t pay attention to anything else.

There will definitely be days when you’re too lazy to train, when you’d rather stay in bed or skip your meal plan.

Honestly, cycling means nothing in the world to me. I try to do what the coach and everyone responsible for the team’s performance tell me. I don’t struggle or get tired of working and I try to do 100% of what they tell me. Lately, we’ve been eating so much sugar during training and racing that we have no desire to eat dessert, and there are days when it’s impossible to get back all the calories you’ve expended.

In recent years, what would you highlight that has changed in the world of elite cycling?

All, but if I have to say something, it is the issue of aerodynamics.

Now that it has aerodynamics, its performance in tests has improved.

Well, we know that I won’t win the time trial because there are specialists, but I consider that I defend myself quite well in this discipline.

You have spent most of your life dedicating body and soul to cycling, can you imagine doing anything else?

If I wasn’t a cyclist, I don’t know what I would tell you right now. I have dedicated myself to cycling for so many years, since I was 14 I always tried to become a cyclist, I think I continued to study. I am happy with my professional career, I would have signed when I was young if I had known.

And, a goal for 2025?

Winning a big one is my main goal for next year.