In the traditionally closed world of cycling, a genre has recently developed that creates at least a kind of pseudo-transparency. For many months, racing teams can be accompanied by the camera, and afterwards extensive documentations appear that depict the inner workings and difficulties of a team in great detail – even if they do not shed light on the real secrets of success, of course. Two Netflix seasons have already appeared on the Spanish Equipe Movistar, and a defining part of “El Dia Menos Pensado” (An Unexpected Day) are internal team irritations about the hierarchy and the racing strategy.
Movistar’s approach to major country tours has been unusual for years. The team regularly starts a race with three captains and rivalries within the team, which regularly causes great annoyance. Although this has always produced great successes, such as Richard Carapaz’s victory at the Giro d’Italia 2019, the bottom line is that the sporting results in the past five years have not been as rich as the team management hoped. Now the current tour of Spain, which has been running for ten days and will run until September 5, at least offers the chance that the approach will work again.
On Sunday evening at the Alto de Velefique, at the end of the first week, the first serious exchange of favorites took place. And it is no surprise that after this tough test and before the next difficult stages, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo) leads the classification. The 31-year-old was eager to win the Tour de France in the summer, but had to give up early because of a fall. Shortly thereafter, he won gold in the Olympic time trial, now the third Vuelta triumph in a row will compensate him. Behind them, however, the competition ranks somewhat unexpectedly: Ineos captain Egan Bernal, 24, has already lost a lot of time. Instead, a Movistar duo turns out to be the first chasing block – consisting of the Colombian Miguel Angel Lopez (1:21 minutes behind) and the Spaniard Enric Mas, who is just 28 seconds behind Roglic.
Especially Mas, 26, recently made it seem like he could actually challenge Roglic. He feels better than ever, the Mallorcan confidently proclaims these days. For some time now, Mas has been one of the contenders for a top position in tours, the so far last Spanish Tour Champion Alberto Contador (suspended for two years in 2010 due to doping) once chose him as his successor. At the France loop in the summer, Mas came in sixth, in the previous year in the Tour and the Vuelta in fifth place. His strongest result so far in a big tour – second place at the Vuelta 2018 – he did, of course, when he was still under contract with Deceuninck Quick-Step.
Quintana, Landa and Carapaz moved on to other teams at some point
Now Mas and Lopez have to try together to outdo the favorite Roglic. Alejandro Valverde, also the third member of the captain’s trident at the proud age of 41, has already retired after a fall. But the common ground is one of the things that the Spanish team has, led by Eusebio Unzue and having changed names several times through all the high-doping times since 1980. She often wins the team rankings and shows how strong she is. But the fact that, as in previous years at Ineos, all drivers subordinate themselves almost unconditionally to one man cannot be seen at Movistar.
Again and again there was animosity between top drivers – also fueled by the team management. Unforgettable is the moment when captain Nairo Quintana kicked in the back in vain for the connection on the 2019 tour and his own team accelerated the pace in the front. At some point Quintana moved away, exasperated, as did Mikel Landa. Richard Carapaz, too, may not have only brought pecuniary temptations to Ineos.
The current representatives are now pretending that this is not a problem for them. “The race as a team is crucial, because it certainly gives us more chances than if we tackle it individually,” said Lopez during the rest day on Monday. Lopez also admitted that it was a “somewhat uncomfortable situation” for him when his colleague Mas drove ahead with Roglic in the difficult stage on Sunday and he couldn’t do anything other than follow the wheels of his other rivals. He would have had the strength to drive faster, he said.
The two should now remember this logic when the next difficult stages of the Vuelta, which is once again more challenging on paper than the Tour de France, take place in the next few weeks. Otherwise, there may be material for more Netflix episodes soon.
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