2021 Vuelta a España runner-up Enric Mas (Movistar) believes that the organizers' decision to place the 2022 route's individual time trial on stage 10, rather than at the end of the race as they did last September, will have a considerable impact on the development of next year's Grand Tour

2021

The 2021 Vuelta a España ended with a 33.8-km time trial in Santiago de Compostela, which did not affect the top six overall. In 2022, however, Mas believes there should be a different story to tell, as the main TT will be located in the middle of the three-week race.

"Things will be very different," Mas told Cycling News after the presentation of the Vuelta a España in Madrid on Thursday night.

"Because the gap between the riders in the TT will shape the big names in the rest of the Vuelta. If someone gets a minute advantage in the TT, it will change the way the rest of the riders race."

Mas, who finished second overall behind Primoš Roglic (Jumbo Visma) in Santiago de Compostela, said a repeat podium finish would be a great result. But if it went well, I'll aim for even better."

"I plan to do the same in the Tour and in the Vuelta as I did in 2021," added the 26-year-old, who arrived in Paris in sixth place overall this season.

"Next year, thanks to this season, I'm going into it with a stronger mindset."

Mas says the one factor that could have a big impact on the southern Spanish stage of the Vuelta next year in late August will not be a problem for him.

"I love the heat," he told Cycling News with a smile. I was born in Mallorca and it must be a good place for me."

"In Holland we will start with a windy, tense stage. The sprinters will be motivated because it is very flat and as a team we have to stick together and see what happens."

On the other side of the Vuelta is the infamous stage 20 through the Sierra of Madrid. Mas recognizes the risks and opportunities.

"Historically, a lot of things have happened there, and maybe we will attack, maybe we will defend. But in the Vuelta a España, every stage can be decisive.

Mas said he does not regret the lack of a Pyrenean stage in the Vuelta, despite winning the only Grand Tour stage in Andorra in 2018.

"I don't have a problem with it. Any climb is difficult, but it doesn't matter how steep it is or where it is. What matters is how fast you can climb."

But contrary to Mass's expectations, the mid-race Vuelta TT is not always a good thing for all-rounders like the Mallorca-born rider: in the 2019 Vuelta, the only individual TT in Pau, on stage 10, took place in the middle of the race, with Roglic winning decisively He took a decisive victory and kept his lead all the way to Madrid.