On one of the toughest Grand Tour stages of the season, any drama waited until the last climb of the 2024 Vuelta a España. One or two GC contenders tried something, but ultimately it was underdog Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) who enjoyed some breathing room on the Cat.1 finale, soloing to his second stage win of the race.
Enric Mas (Movistar) led the GC favourites home just seven seconds later, narrowing his disadvantage to second-place Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) to just nine seconds, as Primož Roglič’s (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) lead stretched over two minutes. Otherwise, besides Carlos Rodríguez’s jour sans, there were otherwise few changes to the overall standings going into the final time trial.
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe had a rather interesting day away from the spotlight with three riders abandoning – including key mountain domestique Dani Martínez – and the early distancing of Aleksandr Vlasov hanging the Sword of Damocles over the team on a crucial and immensely challenging parcours. However, Roglič and his remaining teammates successfully weathered the storm, which could ultimately be contained in a teacup as the GC race was effectively neutralised on the brutal gradients.
How it happened
- The last Grand Tour breakaway of 2024 was hotly contested in the early phases of stage 20, a 172-kilometre slog with no less than 5,077 metres of elevation gain spread across seven categorised climbs. Only stage 15 of the Tour de France had more climbing on the cards, and that Pyrenean challenge was a whole 50 km longer, so the Vuelta’s final road stage had a strong argument for top spot in the ‘toughest stage’ classification.
- At first, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe led the peloton at a steady pace as the 10-rider move built an advantage, but Ineos Grenadiers took over to keep the gap in check once it reached six minutes.
- A major storyline of the day was the perplexing tactics on display from UAE Team Emirates as both Marc Soler and Jay Vine went after the polka dots, starting with Soler’s attack from the breakaway 100 km out, the gap to the peloton now down to 3:35.
- Back in the peloton, Roglič now had only three teammates left in Roger Adrià, Giovanni Aleotti and Florian Lipowitz after the abandons of Patrick Gamper and Nico Denz – reportedly not through illness, rather their jobs being done – then Dani Martínez and Aleksandr Vlasov being dropped early in the stage.
- Rumours began later on that salmonella was spreading through the Red Bull camp, one of their team staff apparently being admitted to hospital, while Martínez and Vlasov may also have been unwell.
- After the sturdy effort from Ineos, T-Rex-QuickStep took over for the Cat.1 Portillo de Lunada (14.1 km at 6.1%), eventually cresting 2:18 after lone leader Soler, whose remaining breakaway rivals caught back up to him on the descent.
- Soler tried again to go solo at the foot of the next climb, only to once more be caught on the long 20-kilometre descent that led into the double-decker first-category finale, the break now down to the two UAE riders, Soler and Vine, Clément Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and break-out star Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma).
- With just two climbs to go and only a narrow advantage to the peloton, Soler and Vine were equal on mountain points by the foot of the Cat.1 Puerto de los Tornos, but UAE’s murky plan finally clarified somewhat as Soler did one big pull for Vine before calling it a day.
- The gap now under a minute, there was only vain hope for Vine to take maximum points at the top, but so long as he crested in the top five positions, he’d take the KOM lead from his teammate by just two seconds.
- Still on the front, T-Rex-QuickStep hit the foot of the climb at speed and almost immediately cracked the red jersey group open, the first fissure occurring just behind Roglič, while white jersey-wearer Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) also lost touch. That acceleration was neutralised largely thanks to Felix Gall (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale), and Skjelmose’s own effort a little further behind – only Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) was decisively dropped.
- Vine and Berthet were caught about halfway up the climb, and Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) went on the attack a couple of kilometres later, going solo with 30 km to go.
- There were a few probing accelerations in the red jersey group, but no one else was allowed clear, and the now 20-rider group – Roglič, O’Connor and Landa all with two teammates apiece – made it to the brutal final climb barely a minute after Sivakov.
- The eight-kilometre Picón Blanco averaged 9% with some super steep and uneven ramps all the way to the top, so good legs might make a huge difference, but Roglič’s dominance and the build-up of fatigue meant the cat-and-mouse games continued throughout the climb.
- With Sivakov still clear, Eddie Dunbar attacked into the 43-second gap five kilometres from the line, and he made it to the front 1,500 metres later, not sticking around for Sivakov.
- Behind them, Roglič had Lipowitz at his disposal, but the red jersey was happy to wind the pace up himself to put the fear into his rivals, and it seemed to work.
- Enric Mas, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) were all able to pretty well match the red jersey throughout the steep climb, while O’Connor and Gall limited their losses, with stage 18-winner Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma) enjoying the freedom of outsider status to throw a cat amongst the pigeons and try his luck near the top.
- Dunbar’s margin at the flamme rouge was no more than 15 seconds, but a combination of the gradient and the cagey atmosphere around the red jersey allowed the determined Irishman to stay clear for his second stage win, becoming the fifth rider to take multiple victories at the 2024 Vuelta.
- Mas demonstrated his characteristic punch to take second behind Dunbar, with Roglič coming home third. In the end, O’Connor had a day he and his team can be proud of, resulting in sixth on the line and only losing eight seconds to the race leader (including Roglič’s bonus for third place). With at least one eye on tomorrow’s 24.6-kilometre TT, not his favoured discipline, Mas’s efforts to snag bonus seconds on the penultimate climb and his narrow advantage at the finish closed his gap to O’Connor to just nine seconds. Fourth overall is Carapaz, now 49 seconds off the podium, but there’s then a one-minute-48-second gap to fifth-overall Gaudu.
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Quotes of the day
Ten days after taking a surprise victory on stage 11‘s flat finish, Dunbar was a popular winner atop the infamous Picón Blanco.
I said to a few people after the stage win last week that it was never the way I expected to win a Grand Tour stage. I always imagined winning on top of a climb, whether it was from a breakaway or the GC group, and I just felt good that second part today and I backed myself on that climb. This one definitely feels a bit sweeter.”
Roglič was very relaxed after the finish, though he was not willing to indulge the idea he’s already won the Vuelta. However, he is “one day closer than yesterday.”
We just have to finish top, uh? I mean, it’s simple, uh?”
Brief analysis
- What exactly UAE Team Emirates had planned for the breakaway remained a mystery throughout stage 20. Were they trying to share the spoils on a day with a leader’s jersey and possibly a stage win available? Were they both given carte blanche to race one another? Was Soler acting as a decoy for Vine by forcing others to work (despite the Spaniard already leading the competition … )? It was the latter, as it turned out. Vine crashed out of the polka-dot jersey at the 2022 Vuelta where he won two stages, and it was with that in mind that he and Soler laid out a plan to tire their rivals on the tougher climbs of the day. It was a win-win situation that worked out for the Australian; Vine finished the stage with a two-point lead over his teammate.
Next up
Just like this year’s Tour, the 2024 Vuelta will finish with a time trial. It’s not especially long and it’s quite flat. The TT specialists will thrive on the course, and the climbers will just hope they don’t lose spots on the GC leaderboard on the final day of the race.
Originally appeared in our Vuelta stage-by-stage preview.
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