Gall and Decathlon's mindset in question at the Vuelta after dominant Mas performance: 'That was all we wanted to do'

Felix Gall and Decathlon CMA CGM signposted their attack and went all out once again in Stage 12 of the Vuelta a España. In the end, the Austrian was only able to partially complete his team’s hard work, as red jersey wearer Enric Mas once again pulled away from the pack. An analysis filled with mixed feelings followed after the finish.

Gall arrived at the Vuelta a España with high ambitions, having proven himself the best of the rest behind Jonas Vingegaard in the Giro d'Italia. From Day 1, however, the Austrian was playing catch-up compared to Mas. In the opening time trial, Gall lost 13 seconds to Mas, and a day later, he lost another 18 seconds in a punchy finish.

On the sixth day, another 46 seconds were added to that total, in the stage where Mas did a great job of staying with Tadej Pogačar. When Pogačar dropped out of contention after Stage 8, Mas won Stage 9 and gained a few more crucial seconds on Gall. It was never a huge margin, but when you add it all up, the gap between Mas and Gall after 12 stages is already 2:06 minutes.

Based on the statistics, it came as no surprise that Mas was once again the better rider in Stage 12. Still, Decathlon CMA CGM went full throttle on the final climb again, perhaps against their better judgment. Gall also accelerated and was only matched by Mas and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe), which showed just how fast he was riding. However, there was one rider who went even faster.

"He made his move at the perfect moment," Gall said of Mas's attack, who waited for Decathlon to do the heavy lifting and then went for it once Gall had also made his move. “He’s at an incredibly high level—he’s shown that from the start. He seems to be doing well in the red jersey, mentally as well. He’s doing very well.”

High praise from Gall, who, sitting third in the standings, already seems to be keeping a close eye on the others.

“The goal was to drop one of the rivals for the podium. Unfortunately, Oscar Onley crashed, but we were able to drop him,” he said, referring to the British rider from Netcompany INEOS, who lost a lot of time and dropped out of the fight for the podium. “That was all we wanted to do on our end. So, it was a good day.

It says a lot about the mindset of Gall and Decathlon, who, with Mas in this race, can’t even dream of an overall victory. Just as Vingegaard in the Giro and Pogačar in the Vuelta have already proven themselves to be better, Mas is now suddenly standing out as well. “I had to put in a lot of work on the climb, but it was a brutal day—it was so hot,” Gall added.

"There weren't many guys left at the end, but I managed to hang in there. I'm feeling the fatigue now, but so far, so good."