00:01On to the final big mountain day of La Vuelta 26.
00:04It is a proper blockbuster in the Sierra Nevada featuring a summit finish on the fearsome Collado del Alguacil.
00:11Enric Maas is closing on a famous overall victory.
00:15The Spaniard has proven he is the best climber in the peloton and now just needs to defend his red
00:20jersey for one more day.
00:23He's shown that he has the best legs in the race and he has a decent time gap to second
00:28and third.
00:29So I think for Enric it's not a very complicated stage.
00:32I think the only thing that maybe can throw some complications out there is,
00:36we saw yesterday Richard Carapaz is pretty interested in just trying to shake things up and see what happens.
00:42I think for him a fourth place or a sixth place doesn't really change too much for him.
00:47He has an amazing Palmares and I think he's just looking to try and create a bit of chaos and
00:51see what opportunities arise.
00:53Given his aggressive style, it would almost be a surprise not to see Richard Carapaz make a move today.
00:59The Ecuadorian is gunning for his second overall podium at La Vuelta.
01:05Yeah, today is a very, very tough stage.
01:08Honestly, if you're suffering a bit today you could end up losing a lot of time.
01:12So everything could still change and we're going into it with the aim of getting Richie onto the podium.
01:19The Chiado del Alguacil has never featured in a professional bike race before, though it will be familiar to plenty
01:25of riders in the peloton as they frequently come to the Sierra Nevada for altitude camps.
01:30They're gearing up for a brutal day in the saddle.
01:35Very hard.
01:36I think today's stage is one of the toughest that we've ever seen on a Grand Tour.
01:40And it's not just because of all the climbing but because of how it's spread out and above all the
01:45gradients that we're going to be facing today.
01:48I think it will be a day of fireworks in the GC because yesterday they held back a bit thinking
01:53about today.
01:53It's going to be a great race.
01:59Stage 20 features five climbs and close to 5,000 metres of elevation gain.
02:04After three cat ones the riders will tackle Collado del Alguacil, the only special category climb in this race.
02:10It's 8.3k at an average of 9.8% with passages at 22%.
02:15Proper rampas inhumanas which will settle the GC outcome of this 81st edition.
02:25145 of the 184 riders who set off from Monaco are still going and two of them attacked as soon
02:31as the flag dropped.
02:32Wout Van Aert and Ivo Oliveira.
02:34The speed was high and in this early exposed section the wind caused splits in the peloton.
02:40Unu-X Mobility driving a chase group with no fewer than six of their riders and they soon caught up
02:45to Van Aert and Oliveira
02:46along with two of Primoz Roglic's team mates, Finn Fischer-Black and Gianni Vermeesh.
02:5114 men in the break.
02:53The early echelons were a bit of a let off for Henrik Maas who was briefly caught behind.
02:58Movistar keen to put a couple of men up the road with Ivan Romeo and Raul Garcia-Pierna on the
03:03move
03:04and there were plenty more on their tail.
03:09The chase group swelling to more than 50 riders in pursuit of the 14 at the front and for now
03:15the peloton were happy to let them go
03:17as the gap yawned out to five and a half minutes.
03:19Unu-X using their numbers and still driving the break as they approached the first category one climb of the
03:25day, the Puerto del Porche, which the riders would tackle twice.
03:32The Unu-X sextet of Cort, Delbu, Tiller, Krohn, Leknesund and Johannesson accounting for nearly half of the break,
03:40although Tiller said goodbye on the climb, as did Vermeesh.
03:43The GC favourites were nearly 11 minutes back at this point, though they would soon get a wake-up call.
03:50Here we go!
03:56The Ecuadorian trying to go clear, as expected, on the same climb where he attacked a couple of years ago
04:01at La Vuelta.
04:02The former Giro winner quickly bridging across to Sepp Kuss, who had gone up the road a little earlier.
04:09Up at the front, Van Aert was targeting polka dot points, with Buetrago's team mate, Paul Mikel, unable to prevent
04:16the Belgian from taking a maximum haul.
04:19Further back, the top three overall, Mass, Roglic and Gall, caught up to Carapace and Kuss before the descent.
04:32After a second hike up El Porche, the riders made for the Puerto del Duque, which boasted a similar profile.
04:39Seven and a half kilometres at more than 8%.
04:41The big chase group had shattered by this point, but one rider managed to fight his way to the front,
04:47Mikel Landa.
04:49Into the last 50 kilometres of this attritional stage, the top four on GC still riding together, but fifth-placed
04:55Oscar Ronly had disappeared.
04:59Ramses de Bruyne joined the break on the lower slopes of El Duque, and not long after bridging across, the
05:04Belgian went on the attack, with only Johannesson and Landa able to follow.
05:13In spite of repeated attacks from Carapace, there was no real movement in the GC group.
05:18The top four cancelling each other out, and even playing a few games here.
05:22That was good news for the breakaway, because their lead was back up to nearly 10 minutes.
05:26These three riders set to contest the stage win.
05:30While Landa had taken the KOM points on El Duque, and that ended Van Aert's slim hopes of snatching the
05:35polka-dot jersey from Buetrago.
05:44Landa, De Bruyne and Johannesson approaching the hardest climb of La Vuelta 26, with the road already rising, and the
05:50gradients set to do some serious damage.
05:53And it was Landa who proved to be the strongest of the trio. The 36-year-old rolling back the
05:59years as he dropped De Bruyne and Johannesson, and went in search of a first La Vuelta stage win since
06:042015.
06:08Four minutes further back was a chase group containing Sepp Kuss, who was set to make big gains overall. The
06:142023 winner of La Vuelta, virtually up to fifth place now.
06:18And in the final kilometres, Felix Gall attacked from the red jersey group, with Mass not far behind, but Roglic
06:26would have to dig deep to defend second place overall.
06:30Landa preparing to celebrate.
06:34What a fantastic performance by this rider. He came out of nowhere, and he rode his way to the front
06:42of a race that had been full on all day.
06:45He talks into the race radio. The last hundred metres of this climb seems like it's an absolute eternity.
06:53But for fans of Michael Landa, he now hears the announcer at the top of this mountain.
07:00It can't come quick enough. Where is the finish line? He senses it just in front of him.
07:06He's 75 metres from the top. What a day for Sudar Quickstep. But most importantly, it's been a blockbuster day
07:15from the Basque rider.
07:17An emotional finish. He bursts into tears. Five years, one month and five days since he last won.
07:25Michael Landa wins stage 20.
07:31Landismo is alive and well. At 36 years of age, Mikel Landa is a winner once again, ending a drought
07:38of more than five years.
07:39And it's been 11 years since his only previous stage win at La Vuelta.
07:44A huge moment for the veteran Spaniard, who will be leaving Sudar Quickstep at the end of the season to
07:49return to Oskatel Oskari, the team where he turned pro.
07:55And what a day this was for Spain, with Enric Mas closing on his first Grand Tour victory.
08:05I feel very happy. Something that I've been looking for for a long time and finally, I win again.
08:15A very emotional victory for you today, no?
08:18Yes, really emotional. It's been a really hard season, a really hard Vuelta for me and today was the last
08:27chance.
08:29Landa celebrating his 17th career victory ahead of Johansson, followed by De Bruyne, Mikel and Berrade.
08:36Kuz finished 8th with Mas in 14th, a few seconds behind Gal.
08:40The Spaniard is 24 hours away from winning his home Grand Tour.
08:45Gal wasn't quite able to overhaul Roglic, while Kuz jumped up six places to fifth overall.
08:51Job done for Van Aert in the points classification, he took another 20 at the intermediate sprint to wrap up
08:57the green jersey.
09:01Despite the Belgian's efforts, Buetrago will finish as the king of the mountains, the Colombian ending the day 16 points
09:08clear.
09:11Onli only gained seven seconds on Omrazel today, but it looks like the Scot has done enough to take home
09:16the white jersey.
09:1720 stages down, one to go. Tomorrow, La Vuelta concludes with a punchy outing around Granada.
09:24Join us for that on Sunday, and thanks for watching.
