Enric Mas laughs off Giro kit mix up after racing in Movistar women’s jersey

The Spanish climber confirmed on Sunday morning that he had accidentally raced in a jersey belonging to Movistar’s women’s team. The difference was not immediately obvious, but careful viewers noticed that the logo on his kit referred to the UCI Women’s WorldTour rather than the men’s WorldTour.

Mas treated the incident lightly, describing it as a simple mistake in the distribution of team clothing.

“I use a small size jersey,” Mas said to L'Equipe. “Maybe when they handed out the clothing, something got mixed up. Someone must have made a mistake, we do not know who, but it does not matter.”

The 31-year-old said he had not spotted the error himself and simply raced in the kit because it fitted as expected.

“I did not check it, I just rode with it,” he said. “Everything was my size, the shorts were my size. The only difference was the logo.”

The mistake was eventually pointed out to him by Movistar teammate Iván García Cortina on Saturday evening. Mas said the discovery caused more laughter than concern inside the team.

“I did not notice it on the bike,” Mas said. “Iván García Cortina told me on Saturday evening. We laughed a lot when we realised.”

By the start of stage 9 in Cervia, Mas was back in the correct men’s jersey, with the incident already being treated as an unusual but harmless footnote to his Giro debut.

It was an odd moment in what has so far been a challenging race for the Movistar leader. Mas arrived at the Giro as the team’s general classification hope, but the first week has not gone to plan. He sits 28th overall, almost 14 minutes down on race leader Afonso Eulálio.