Vuelta a España: Enric Mas passes arduous final mountain test to keep red as Mikel Landa soars to stage 20 breakaway victory atop Collado del Alguacil

Enric Mas (Movistar) put the finishing touches on a certain Vuelta a España victory atop the steep slopes of the Collado de Alguacil, the Spaniard surviving a day of long-range GC action to hold onto the red jersey after five hours of racing.

There was double celebration for Spain on the penultimate stage of the Vuelta as Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) proved the strongest from the day's breakaway, leaving behind Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) and Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech) to solo up the final climb and take his first win in five years.

The win is the 17th of Landa's career and the first since the 2021 Vuelta a Burgos. It's almost certain to be his last for Soudal-QuickStep, with the Basque rider set to 'go home' with a move to Euskaltel-Euskadi next season.

Behind the breakaway battle, the GC battle raged over four of the 186.8km stage's five major climbs, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) attacking time and again in search of a podium spot and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) launching a long-range move to move well into the GC top 10.

Mas raced into the final climb of the stage and its double-digit gradients untroubled, however, with his nearest rival Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) unable to make a decisive move to overcome that 1:37 GC gap.

In the end, it was Felix Gall (Decathlon CMA CGM) who made the first major attack, taking Mas with him as he aimed at Roglič's second place. He proved the strongest of the GC men on the final climb, racing to the line 6:37 down on Landa and 55 seconds up on Roglič.

Mas crossed the line at 6:54, having shed some time to Gall but with his red jersey intact and heading into Sunday's closing stage with an extended 2:15 advantage over second-placed Roglič and his Vuelta win all but confirmed.

Kuss' ride to eighth on the stage, meanwhile, delivered him to fifth overall, jumping up six places in the GC to 8:45 behind Mas, 43 seconds up on Oscar Onley (Netcompany Ineos).

Enric Mas successfully marks GC threats in mountainous day of racing

The penultimate stage of the Vuelta a España posed the last big challenge of the race, taking the peloton on a 186.8km run through the mountains with five classified climbs and a summit finish atop the Collado del Alguacil on the menu.

The early third-category climb of the Puerto de Blacares (7.7km at 3.7%) led to two ascents of the first-category climb, the Puerto de El Purche (8.2km at 8.1%), before another first-category climb of the Puerto de El Duque (7.4km at 8.3%) and then the closer, the HC-rated Collado del Alguacil (8km at 9.8%).

Attacks flew from the start of the stage, with Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) among the first riders to jump clear at the front. Winds blowing early in the stage only complicated matters, provoking a split in the peloton.

Race leader Enric Mas was among the notable names caught out in the split, but the Spaniard quickly sent his Movistar group to the front to rectify the situation and get back to the front.

Moves continued to go clear at the front, meanwhile, with a large group breaking free after 30km of racing. Joining Van Aert and Oliveira were six Uno-X Mobility riders in Tobias Halland Johanessen, Simon Dalby, Andreas Kron, Magnus Cort, Andreas Leknessund, and Rasmus Tiller. Also in the move were Bryan Coquard, Louis Rouland (Cofidis), Finn Fisher-Black, Gianni Vermeersch (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Oscar Chamberlain (Decathlon CMA CGM), and Pau Miquel (Bahrain Victorious).

Movistar continued to lead the way behind as another group split off the front in pursuit of the breakaway. The larger group got away after 50km of racing, and some 50 riders made the move.

Movistar placed three men in the move with Iván Romeo, Raúl García Pierna and Pablo Castrillo, while a host of other notable names made the group. Mountain classification leader Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), Kevin Vermaerke (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike), Eddie Dunbar (Pinarello-Q36.5), Jack Haig (Netcompany Ineos), Thibau Nys (Lidl-Trek), Ramses Debruyne (Alpecin-Premier Tech), Valentin Paret-Peintre, Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep), Marco Brenner (Tudor), Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS-Astana), Jarno Widar (Lotto-Intermarché), Luke Tuckwell (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Urko Berrade (Kern Pharma), and Jan Hirt (NSN) were all in there.

After 80km of racing, as the race approached the first ascent of the Puerto de El Purche, the peloton lay nine minutes adrift of the leaders, while the 50-man chase group were 3:20 down. With the breakaway groups settled out front, there wasn't much longer to wait until the first big move of the day came from behind as Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) launched a move 97km from the line, his attack followed by Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) 2km later.

Decathlon CMA CGM, without Matthew Riccitello who crashed out earlier in the day, worked in the chase behind with Felix Gall taking a leading role. Gall – with Mas and Roglič on his wheel and Onley trailing close behind – caught Carapaz and Kuss going over the top, the peloton already shattered with half the stage to go.

As riders, including Brennan, Vincenzo Albanese (EF Education-EasyPost), and Sander De Pestel (Decathlon CMA CGM), dropped back from the break to help their GC leaders, Onley was only shedding time, racing up the second ascent of the Puerto de El Purche at three minutes down.

Up front, still eight minutes clear, Uno-X Mobility continued to lead the front group as green jersey Van Aert – 38 mountain points down on Buitrago – grabbed the maximum of 20 over the two climbs of El Purche.

Back in the GC group, Kuss attacked once more and went over the top of the climb with a minute lead as the GC group continued to sweep up riders dropped from the big breakaway group, including García Pierna to assist Mas.

The leaders raced through the intermediate sprint and onto the Puerto de El Duque with an 8:30 advantage over the red jersey group. It wasn't long before the attacks came at the front, with Johannessen jumping, accompanied by Landa and Debruyne, who had earlier bridged across from the large chase group.

As the GC men approached the top of the climb, the cat-and-mouse games broke out, with the pace nearing trackstand territory at one point as the gap to the leaders ballooned out to 9:30. Carapaz, who made several moves on the way up, couldn't dislodge any of his companions. Meanwhile, Romeo dropped back before the summit to help Mas.

There was little change in the situation on the road to the final climb, with the leaders starting the ascent nine minutes up on the GC contenders and their satellite helper teammates. Kuss, meanwhile, was five minutes up on Mas and co, racing from 11th overall into the virtual top five with Van Aert and Jørgen Nordhagen working for him.

At 7km from the line, Landa made his move, dropping Debruyne and putting Johannessen in trouble. James Shaw worked for Carapaz at the head of the GC group, meanwhile, with the big moves yet to come.

Pablo Castrillo, the last Movistar man to drop back from the break, led the GC group up the climb, his pace putting off others from jumping. Once he was done, however, Gall made a move. The Austrian took Mas with him, but Roglič and Carapaz couldn't go with them. Gall quickly put 30 seconds into Roglič as he sought out second overall on the final mountain of the Vuelta.

It was Landa who reached the top first, celebrating victory from the breakaway after a brutal day in the breakaway to cross the line 49 seconds up on Johannessen as Debruyne trailed home in third place.

As the Basque rider celebrated his win, Gall left Mas behind heading into the final 2km in an attempt to put the 1:24 he needed between him and Roglič. He put up a big fight, but wouldn't overhaul the Slovenian, instead consolidating his third place overall at the line.

Mas, meanwhile, rolled home with no threats to his overall lead and with his red jersey safe once more ahead of the final stage in Granada.

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Results

General classification after stage 20