Vuelta a España stage 20 LIVE: Enric Mas successfully marking red jersey rivals with just one climb left to ride up

Here we go – the three leaders have started climbing the Collado del Alguacil, which with an average of 9.8%(!) for 8.4km, is the hardest of the entire Vuelta.

The red jersey group will start it in about nine minute time, when they arrive at the foot.

James Shaw is the latest of the apparently infinite number of riders to drop back from the groups in front, and set a pace for Carapaz in the red jersey group. That’ll help him defend fourth place from Sepp Kuss (pictured), who now has Van Aert with him and has built a huge lead of 5:30 – nearly enough to overtake Carapaz on GC.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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One thing that’s looking increasingly likely as they approach the final climb is that the stage win will go to one of Landa, Debruyne or Johannessen. They’re five minutes ahead of Kuss and 9:40 ahead of the red jersey group, though face more direct threat from Miguel, who is only 30 seconds behind.

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Another of Mas’ teammates up the road, Romeo, has dropped back to the red jersey group and set the pace, controlling it and bringing order after Carapaz’s attacks and leading them over the summit.

It might have been a chaotic start, but Movistar have once again ended up playing a tactically astute game, and have things under control – they also have Castrillo up the road for once last teammate to drop back if needed, with just one more climb left to complete.

Landa leads the trio of himself, Debruyne and Johannessen which means Buitrago is now poised to win the KOM jersey, with Van Aert not among the top points.

Further down the mountain, the GC riders are playing games with each other, watching each other and riding slowly rather than working together. Gall and Carapaz briefly let a gap grow to the others, but bridged it back. They’re calling Mas’ bluff – he needs to ride at some point to defend the red jersey from Kuss, who is getting a bigger and bigger gap out front.

The situation as they ride up the penultimate climb of the day, Puerto de El Duque (7.4km at 8.2%), is that the lead group of 8 (Van Aert, Johannessen, Kron, Dalby, Oliveira, Fisher-Black, Miguel and Landa) are about 6 minutes ahead of Kuss, with many riders in between, and Kuss is 2:30 ahead of the red jersey group (now containing Mas, Roglič, Gall, Carapaz), and 5 minutes ahead of Onley and Omrzel.

Van Aert slips to the front of the group to add more points in the green jersey classification, but it’s the mountain jersey he’s after today. Thans to the pace set by Uno-X Mobility, his lead group is still 1:40 up on the Buitrago group, meaning he has a chance of gaining the jersey, if he can win the points at the top of the climb they’re about to begin, and finish at last third on the summit finish.

If he can do it, Van Aert will become the first rider to win both the points and mountains classification at a Vuelta since María Jiménez in 2001.

Carapaz has made another move on the climb! He got a gap, but was brought back by Mas, Gall and Roglič.

With a few teammates still up the road in Shaw, Rafferty and Rodriguez, if he can get more of a gap with one of these attacks, he has support up the road to try and build a lead to make a move on the podium.

Van Aert picks up another ten points at the summit, despite a sprint and desperate lunge from Bahrain’s Miguel. He’s now left with just 16 points to make up on Van Aert, with ten available on the upcoming climb, and twenty on the final ascent to the finish. He’s got a chance!

As for the stage win, for all the action behind, the lead group are still over eight minutes ahead of the group of favourites. That’s mostly down to the work of Uno-X Mobility, who still have three men working for their elected man for the day, Johannessen.

Kuss has gone again! His Visma teammate Kruijswijk had been setting the pace, but now the American has gone solo. There’s a slowdown in the GC group, as their positions aren’t under threat from Kuss.

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This is a picture earlier from MacKellar, back when he was in the main chase group. He’s since dropped back, and has just finished doing a long, important turn for Carapaz in the group of favourites.

They’re putting a lot of time into the group behind, which contains Onley and Omrzel, which is now almost three minutes behind. This is good news especially for Kuss, who stands to shoot up the GC – potentially to as high as fifth overall, if the gap keep increasing at the rate they are.

MacKellar has also dropped back to the group of favourites, giving Carapaz another man to set the pace along with Albanese. As the longest valley section left on this stage, this is the ideal time for him to have teammates to set the pace, before they start climbing again in a few kilometres.

The move is further distancing Onley behind, who is in a perilous situation but does have Haig to help him, and is also potentially bringing the stage win back into play – the high pace since the Carapaz attack has seen the gap from this group to the leaders come down to about 8:40.

Van Aert takes the points at the top of the climb, out-sprinting Buitrago’s teammate Miguel. He’s moved to within 26 points of Buitrago’s point tally, and with the group so far behind, he’s in with a chance of picking up enough points to take it from him.

Further down the mountains, Carapaz has joined Kuss, and 20 seconds behind the peloton is down to only eleven riders – and Mas is isolated. It’s all happening on the road!

We thought it was coming at some point today, and it’s happened already, on the first category one climb of the day with little more than 100km left to ride! It was an explosive move, and he’s got a gap, while Decathlon respond by taking over the pace-setting in the peloton.

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Red Bull offered an interesting quote ahead of the stage today saying that they ‘won’t interrupt’ anyone if they were to make a mistake during this tactically complicated stage, and that does indeed appear to be what they were doing when Movistar were panicking earlier.

But as the race has settled down, and the chase group built a big lead over the peloton, the Movistar ploy appears to have worked, and they’re back in control of the race. Can Red Bull and their leader Roglič contrive a way to put them under pressure, now that they no longer outnumber Movistar in terms or riders up the road?

The peloton might be over eight minutes behind the chase group, but that hasn’t stopped Sepp Kuss from attacking on the climb. Presumably his teammates up the road (of which there are four, plus Van Aert in the lead group) will drop back to pace him, in an attempt to propel him as high up the GC as possible.

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This climb is starting to see the inferior climbers struggle, as Tiller and Vermeersch (one of Roglič’s two teammates in the lead group) are dropped.

Meanwhile in the chase group (pictured), Movistar are setting the pace again, with García Pierna, Romeo and Castrillo.

The riders are climbing again, this time up the first category one of the day. It’s the Puerto de El Purche, and averages a brutal 8% for 8.2km.

The leaders have started it with a gap of 3:30 over the chasers and a huge ten minutes over the peloton.

Despite initially getting up on his bike, Riccitello has abandoned the race following his crash. That’s bad news for Gall, for whom he had become the main mountain domestique for, since Mühlberger’s abandon earlier in the race.

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While the peloton has sat up and are happy to let both the lead group and the chase group have a gap, the lead group has not, and does not want the 30-or-so riders in the chase group to join them. They’re keeping the pace high, and increasing their lead, to over one and a half minutes.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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There are no threats to GC in either of the groups ahead of the peloton, but plenty of domestiques of the favourites who could help swing the balance of power.

Roglič has two teammates in the lead group, and another two in the chase group; Mas has no teammates in the lead group, and two in the chase group; Gall one in the lead group and one in the chase group; Onley none in the lead group, two in the chase group; and finally Carapa has none in the lead group, but four in the chase group.

The lead group crests the climb, with Buitrago’s teammate Pau Miguel ensuring he takes the points ahead of Van Aert.

Buitrago is in the chase group behind, so will, like the Movistar pair in it, want to bridge up to the leaders. As do EF, who have a few domestiques helping Movistar lead the pace. There’s plenty of investment in this group, but they’re almost a minute behind.

The ploy isn’t working for Movistar, as the chase group led by Romeo and García Pierna (and EF, who are contributing now) are failing to make up ground on the leaders, being kept at 35 seconds. The worst case scenario for Movistar is if the pair working burn themselves out trying to chase, but fail to bridge up to the lead group, and are then too tired to assist Mas later in the stage, potentially leaving him isolated and very outnumbered by Red Bull.

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Here’s the group at the front, and there about to start climbing – up the first of five mountains on the menu today.

They lead the peloton by about 40 seconds, with the chase group behind led by Movistar somewhere in between.

Two riders have gone down in the peloton. Riccitello is one of them, and thankfully for his team leader Gall, he’s back on white bike. But Hamilton looks hurt, and will likely abandon the race.

The Movistar duo are still riding, and have picked up some riders between the peloton and the lead group on their way – including more EF and Red Bull teammates. They’re committed to the move, and are desperate to make up the remaining 15 seconds they need to join the lead group.

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Are Movistar panicking?Having set a pace for a few kilometres, they’ve now fired a couple of riders up the road, Garcia Pierna and Romeo, in an attempt to bridge up to the break.

They must be feeling anxious at having nobody in the break especially as Roglič has a couple, but are also toeing up rival teammates Thornely (of Red Bull) and Shaw (of EF). But these are questionable tactics, and they could be burning off key domestiques very early.

Actually, the chase group had not caught Van Aert and Oliveira – they’re only doing so now.

Here was the pair right at the start of the day, when they broke clear of the peloton.

Adding to the complications of the day, there’s also a bit of wind on the exposed section the peloton is riding through, and a group of about a dozen riders have used it to help et a gap on the peloton. Uno-X Mobility were the chief instigators, putting three men in the group.

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While the battle for the break continues, Carlos Rodríguez has had to drop back to his team car to get a radio issue sorted out. This isn’t the kind of day you want to be without radio communication for, as it’s likely to be very chaotic.

That is indeed the case now, and multiple riders try to join Van Aert and Oliveira at the front of the race.

And they’re off! And its Wout van Aert who is among the first to kick things off, going on the attack with UAE’s Oliveira. The pair have a gap of about ten seconds over the peloton, where more are trying moves.

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The riders are in the neutralised zone, and will be racing the Queen Stage soon. The first 40km are about as flat as this stage gets, and even they take place on rolling terrain. It’ll be a massive fight to get into the break, and only riders still feeling (relatively) strong after three weeks of racing will be able to get into it.

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Today features more climbing than any other stage of this race by some distance. But as one merciful relief for the riders comes in the temperature, which is cooler than it was earlier in the race, in the early twenties rather than the thirties.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Yesterday didn’t quite produce fireworks in the GC race, with attacks not coming until the final few kilometres, and everyone in the top five finishing at the top of the summit finish together. But today there surely will be, given the severity of the parcours, and the fact this is the last chance at this Vuelta before the final circuit stage in Granada.