Artà surrenders to Enric Mas after winning the Vuelta

PalmaEnric Mas did not have to wait to return to Mallorca to feel the love of his people. Family, friends, and numerous neighbors from Artà traveled this Sunday to Granada to accompany the cyclist in the final stage of the Vuelta and celebrate with him the first grand tour of his career.

The images released by the Artà City Council and the Movistar Team show the Artà expedition next to the rider, surrounded by hugs and congratulations after stepping onto the podium with the red jersey. The team subsequently thanked the public via social media for the displays of affection received during the competition and extended the victory to all the fans: “Enjoy this victory, which is also yours”.

Mas also highlighted the presence of his loved ones during a day he had imagined many times. “Many people from the town have come, my family, and that is why it has been a very special day,” he declared after confirming the triumph. The cyclist from Artà admitted to having experienced the previous hours with a mixture of nerves and emotions, all of them positive.

The celebration had two settings separated by more than 700 kilometers. While some of the residents accompanied Mas in Granada, those who remained in Artà followed the outcome of the competition from the Covered Market. The City Council had installed a screen there so that the fans could watch the final stage together.

“His triumph has made an entire town vibrate,” the city council assured after the victory. The City Council remarked that cycling is part of Artà’s life and that Mas’s participation had turned this hobby into “a shared illusion” during the three weeks of competition.

The support of the town accompanies the cyclist after years of chasing a victory that had eluded him. Mas had finished second three times in the Vuelta, in the years 2018, 2021, and 2022, and had been third in 2024. At 31 years old, he has finally managed to climb to the first step of the podium and has become the first rider from the State to win the Spanish tour since Alberto Contador, in the year 2014.

The cyclist from Artà reached the final day after having defended the red jersey for twelve days. The victory on the stage to the Alto de Aitana was, as he acknowledged, the defining and most special moment of the competition. “I made my debut at the Vuelta in 2017 and I have always dreamed and worked to achieve this,” he recalled.

Granada was only the first setting for the celebration. The City Council of Artà has not yet communicated the details of the reception for the cyclist, but the town has already begun to celebrate a historic victory: one part did so alongside Mas and the other, in front of the screen at the Covered Market.