Eddie Dunbar wins the queen stage of La Vuelta, which did not create differences among the favorites

2 minutes advantage for Primoz Roglic in the general classification of La Vuelta a España 2024 after the last mountain stage with a finish at Picón Blanco. Despite the intensity throughout the day and the uncertainty about Primoz Roglic's condition after losing three teammates due to a suspected food poisoning during the stage, in the end, no new differences were generated among the favorites. Therefore, barring a fall or mechanical issue, Primoz Roglic will assert his favorite status by certifying his 4th victory in La Vuelta a España tomorrow on the streets of Madrid.

Primoz Roglic one step closer to achieving the record for victories in La Vuelta

Stage 20 of La Vuelta a España 2024, the penultimate stage of the race, featured a wild route of 172 kilometers between Cantabria and Burgos, with a total of 7 climbs, the first 6 being long but without devastating gradients, yet challenging enough for a relentless pace to potentially shake things up. As a dessert, Picón Blanco, making its second appearance in La Vuelta a España, a climb with steep gradients as the culmination of one of the most mountainous editions of La Vuelta in recent times.

With this menu, the day proved to be highly exciting in the search for a breakaway that could gain approval from the favorites. A breakaway that was fiercely fought for, with a group of 10 riders finally forming on the second climb, La Braguña, including familiar names from the past week such as Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Marco Frigo, and Kern Pharma's Pablo Castrillo.

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Meanwhile, alarms were raised at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe with the disappearance of the group containing Vlasov, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Patrick Gamper, and Nico Denz, who would abandon the race during the stage due to some kind of virus or even rumors of food poisoning that also affected some staff members. This raised doubts about whether Primoz Roglic could be one of the affected individuals.

INEOS Grenadiers decided to set a fast pace to chase the stage victory, preventing the breakaway's advantage from exceeding 6 minutes. Meanwhile, in the breakaway, Marc Soler attacked at the top of Braguña, seemingly aiming to challenge his teammate Jay Vine for the mountain jersey points, and continued to push forward to create a gap. However, in a pattern that would repeat on the following climbs, the Catalan would attack on the ascent, break away, but get caught on the descent.

This was how the climb of El Caracol unfolded, leading to the long ascent to Lunada, the toughest part of the day apart from the final climb to Picón Blanco, with its old-fashioned asphalt, patched up countless times, sticking to the bike tires and adding a couple of points of difficulty to what might be one of the most beautiful climbs in Spain.

A paradigm shift occurred at the head of the peloton with the start of Lunada, where TRex-QuickStep took over the lead. However, as the kilometers passed, Mikel Landa's expected offensive did not materialize, resulting in uneventful climbs. The same would happen on the next ascent, Portillo de la Sía, another charming climb from its Cantabrian side, offering an interesting challenge on its Burgos face, as seen in the breakaway with another attempt by Marc Soler, who lacked confidence in the descents to solidify his advantage.

As they reached Los Tornos, another long but less challenging climb compared to the previous ones, TRex-QuickStep's pace began to take its toll on the peloton. Mikel Landa launched an attack that did little damage, except for exposing the weakness of Carlos Rodríguez, who would dramatically fall behind.

Landa's attack also revealed that the survivors from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe were solid, and with the help of Roger Adriá and Florian Lipowitz, Primoz Roglic managed to control the race and neutralize the breakaway with over 6 kilometers still remaining to the top of Los Tornos.

UAE Team Emirates did not give up and continued to try with Pavel Sivakov's attack, who, on the way to Espinosa de los Monteros, where the stage started hours earlier and the beginning of the final ascent to Picón Blanco, managed to open a minute gap, clearly insufficient as the wolves closed in on stage 20 of La Vuelta 2024.

Picón Blanco alternated between steep gradients and short breaks, a section where Eddie Dunbar made his move to catch up with the Frenchman. With 4.5 km to go, the road changed direction and entered a forest crossed by a terrible and endless ramp, where the attacks began. Primoz Roglic took the lead and set a hard pace to prevent attacks, reshuffling the group and leaving the best riders of recent days alongside him, namely David Gaudu, Enric Mas, and Richard Carapaz.

Urko Berrade followed, attacking alongside Gaudu, but the Kern Pharma rider struggled and fell behind. With multiple attacks, pauses, and steep gradients, the group came back together, except for Eddie Dunbar, who continued to suffer ahead and came closer to victory despite a slim 15-second advantage. A last-ditch effort by Mikel Landa and a late acceleration by Enric Mas towards the finish line were not enough to catch Eddie Dunbar or create significant gaps.

This leaves Primoz Roglic, the best time trialist among the favorites, virtually securing the victory in La Vuelta 2024, with the added excitement of determining the order of the other two podium spots, as Ben O'Connor holds a mere 9-second advantage over Enric Mas, both having similar time trial abilities.

Stage 20 Classification

1. Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) 4h38'37''
2. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +07''
3. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +10''
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +12''
5. Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) +14''
6. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +14''
7. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +21''
8. Mikel Landa (TRex-QuickStep) +23''
9. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +37''
10. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +37''

General Classification

1. Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) 81h22'19''
2. Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) +2'02
3. Enric Mas (Movistar Team) +2'11''
4. Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) +3'00''
5. David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) +4'48''
6. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +5'18''
7. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +6'26''
8. Mikel Landa (TRex-QuickStep) +6'57''
9. Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) +8'50''
10. Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers) +10'31''