BarcelonaEnric Mas is not willing for the Vuelta a España to blow and make bottles for Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma). The Slovenian cyclist, champion of the last two editions of the race, has won the eleventh stage between Antequera and Valdepeñas de Jaén (133.6 km). But the Mallorcan from the Movistar team has faced him to the end. With Egan Bernal and Mikel Landa out of action, only the Artà cyclist seems capable of preventing Roglic from becoming the third cyclist capable of winning the Vuelta three editions in a row.
The stage, like so many on this tour, was an invitation to adventure. It was full of small hills and a last 700 meters, entering Valdepeñas de Jaén, with a vertical wall of those who break legs. The Dane Mangus Cort Nielsen (EF Education Nippo), who had already won the sixth stage in Cullera in a similar territory, has escaped the final stretch, but the favorites have cruelly crushed him with just 200 meters to go. Nielsen was the last survivor of a bigger getaway, but the big names in the group have not allowed him to take the glory. And it is that Roglic, after having lost the lead of the general on Tuesday, wanted to make clear who commands in this ascent so hard. But Enric Mas responded by holding on to the wheel and passing it for 100 meters in a head-to-head that Roglic won. It is his seventh stage in the Vuelta, the second of this edition.
Roglic remains the favorite despite finishing third in the overall standings behind stunning Norwegian Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché), still leading with 1 minute and 56 seconds over Roglic after Tuesday’s crazy stage. The second position remains in the hands of the French Guillaume Martin, 58 seconds behind Eiking. Enric Mas is 2.31 behind the overall leader, 35 seconds behind a Roglic who still seems to be one step ahead of the others. The twelfth stage is disputed today between Jaén and Cordova (175 km).
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