Enric Mas was unable to shake off Primos Roglic on stage 16 of the Vuelta a España, but an aggressive ride in Lagos de Covadonga has the Spaniard warming up to the idea of winning this race next Sunday in Madrid.

“I've been in the fog,” he said.

Mas' attack 7km from the fog-shrouded summit made things difficult for red jersey Ben O'Connor, who kicked in again a kilometer or so later in a move that could only be followed by Roglic, Richard Calapaz, and David Gaudou.

Together, this quartet made it to the finish line, less than a minute ahead of O'Connor. With this result, Mass remains in third place overall, but 1:25 behind the red jersey. The feeling is great,” Mas told reporters after changing in his tent after the finish.”

After conceding a minute to Roglic on stage 13 in Puerto de Ancares, Mas' Vuelta appeared to follow a familiar narrative. He has been consistent over the years, taking three second places in this race, but there always seemed to be an upper limit to his performance.

Mas responded to his setback in Ancares with a spirited ride in Cuis Negres on stage 15. [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] [...] “

Landa's attack at Lagos de Covadonga certainly gave the home duo hope up front, even if it did not make a decisive difference to Roglic.

Indeed, after an early attack at Lagos de Covadonga, Landa was caught and passed by the Roglic-Mas pair.

“I wanted to try from the bottom of the climb in case one of the favorites cracked, but in the end nobody cracked and it was all a matter of seconds,” Landa said at the finish. 'It's getting harder with each passing day. But with each passing day we lose less and less.”

In other words, Randismo never dies. And the Basque also had generous words for O'Connor, who defended his jersey on the final climb. I'm glad he defended the jersey,” said O'Connor. 'His team is brave, too, and I'll be happy if he wins the jersey.'

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