Enric Mas ruled out of UAE Tour after training crash

Enric Mas has been ruled out of the UAE Tour after he suffered a training crash that required stitches to his right hand. 

His injury is another blow for Movistar, whose new signing Cian Uijtdebroeks was forced to abandon the Volta Comunitat Valenciana following a crash last week, though the Belgian did not sustain any fractures in the incident.

In a statement on Monday morning, Movistar said that Mas had “required hospital assistance due to a wound on his right hand” following a crash in training.

“The injury has required suturing and, after the completion of the corresponding complementary and diagnostic tests, for now, no other conditions have been detected. We await further medical evaluations in the coming days,” read the statement. “For this reason, his participation in the UAE Tour is ruled out.”

Mas began his season with two appearances at the Challenge Mallorca in January, which marked his first competitive appearances since he abandoned last year’s Tour de France. He subsequently underwent surgery to address varicose vein formation in his left leg.

With Uijtdebroeks set to lead Movistar at the Tour, Mas is scheduled to make his Giro d’Italia debut in 2026 before returning to the Vuelta a España in August.

It remains to be seen if Mas will add a race to his schedule in order to compensate for missing the UAE Tour. As things stand, the Volta a Catalunya is the only other race on his pre-Giro programme.

Mas’ withdrawal from the UAE Tour follows that of Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), who announced last week that he would miss the race after a recent training crash and illness. Like Mas, Vingegaard is scheduled to ride the Volta a Catalunya ahead of the Giro.

The UAE Tour takes place from February 16 to 22, with Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) the favourites for overall victory.