Vuelta a España 2009: Stage 20 Preview

Proycling's Analysis: A last blast before Madrid but will it see more than a shake-up of the minor placings? This is a course for the specialists, covering some of the same ground as a road stage into Toledo in last year’s race. Over this short distance, the gaps between the contenders for the title will need to be measured in seconds rather than minutes for the final decision to be in doubt.

Culture Vulture: A former capital of the Empire, Toledo thrived under the Moors and was home to famed artist El Greco for the latter part of his life.

Local hero: ‘The Eagle of Toledo’, Federico Bahamontes won the 1959 Tour de France and the mountains title six times but never his national tour.

Vuelta Retro: The first winner in Toledo was Frenchman Jean Stablinski in 1958. Britain’s Malcolm Elliott outsprinted Sean Kelly for a stage win in 1988 and last year Paolo Bettini led the race into the city.

Neil Stephens says: Again, it's just a matter of limiting our losses on the time trials, just like in Valencia. The distance is almost the same so that's a good thing. Hopefully the situation will be Alejandro Valverde defending a good position on general classification rather than trying to make up time over a relatively short distance. By now you'd reckon that the overall is pretty well decided.