Vuelta a España stage 20 LIVE - UAE Team Emirates-XRG keeping break under control as João Almeida prepares assault on Jonas VIngegaard’s red jersey

The gap's remaining steady, at 1:20. There’s a sense of discouragement in the break, where all their efforts look set to be in vain.

80KM TO GO

Jonas Vingegaard revealed prior to the stage that he and his Visma team would take a back seat and wait for others to attack them today, and that’s been their approach so far, hiding in the peloton while UAE and Red Bull do all the work.

'We'll play it defensively' - Vuelta a España leader Jonas Vingegaard prefers conservative approach as stage 20 mountain showdown looms

The break aren't managing to extend their lead on this undulating section. They're being kept at 1:30 by the peloton, with Red Bull and UAE still doing the work.

90KM TO GO

Both are back up and riding.

A crash in the peloton, Brieuc Rolland and Bjorn Koerdt are the two riders down.

There’s a prolonged section of undulating roads before the penultimate of the day’s five climbs, the very hard Alto de Navacerrada. Brace yourself - it's on this category one mountains that the first big GC attacks are made.

1:20 is the break's lead, as they descend the climb. That's a very slender margin.

100KM TO GO

Nicolau might have been a contender for the King of the Mountains earlier in the Vuelta, but has run out of climbs to challenge Vine’s lead in the classification, with none on the menu tomorrow. The only man who can prevent Vine from winning that classification is Vingegaard, who is 20 points behind him.

Nicolau leads the peloton over the top of the climb to pick up a few points in the KOM classification.

Eddie Dunbar is one of the riders in the break, despite saying prior to the stage that he didn’t fancy their chances of holding off the peloton for the win today. So far, his prognosis appears likely to be correct.

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The break is all strung out in one line as the pace is increased in response to the peloton's chase. Some are struggling to hold on, with Rivera dropped.

The pace is high, but Jonas Vingegaard certainly looks untroubled. He waves and blows a kiss to the camera as the TV moto rides past him on this climb.

UAE and Red Bull’s work has seen the break’s lead come down to 1:20. It might be a strong group out front, but they’re not looking good to survive.

110KM TO GO

Red Bull and especially UAE are keeping this break very tightly controlled. For the first time all race, it seems the latter are all in for Almeida, and want to deliver him the stage win (and the bonus seconds available) as well as the red jersey.

The riders are on the third climb of the day, and it's hardest so far - the category two Alto del León.

Bahrain and Ineos are the two teams leading the break, for their respective men Buitrago and Bernal.

There are once again huge numbers of pro-Palestine protesters on the roadside.

Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe are also assisting UAE with the pace-setting. At some point their leader Jai Hindley is sure to go on the attack as he eyes up Pidcock's place on the podium.

The gap has gone up to 1:30, and some riders in the peloton are taking long-awaited comfort breaks. UAE haven't sat up, but the pace is slower than it was.

120KM TO GO

Pedersen has dropped out of the break and back into the peloton.

Carlos Verona leads the break. He's one of four Lidl riders in this group, along with Ciccone, Pedersen and Bernard.

Here's Mads Pedersen pulling along the brekaway a little earlier.

Some of the standout names in this lead group include: Bernal, Landa, Ciccone and Buitrago.

There are arund 35 riders in this lead group, and their lead is being held steady at just under a minute. UAE don't look happy with it, and continue to set a fierce pace.

130KM TO GO

The gap grows as the riders fly down this descent, to just under a minute.

The leaders go over the Puerto de la Paradilla summit, with nobody contesting the KOM points. The leader in that classification, Jay Vine, has not gotten into the break, instead sticking to his UAE leader Almeida.

PUERTO DE LA PARADILLA

UAE continue to set tempo in the peloton, at a slightly slower pace than the break, that has gradually increased its lead to 40 seconds.

140KM TO GO

No GC threats appear to be in this group, but there are plenty of quality climbers and therefore potential stage winners, including Bernal, Ciccone and Dunbar.

Kelland O'Brien has taken over from Pedersen, leading the group which now must have around 30 riders in it.

The leaders have 30 seconds on the peloton, but some in the latter aren’t content to let them go yet. A couple of Astana riders are the latest to attack from it.

In that lead group, it’s that man again, Mads Pedersen, who is setting the pace at the front.

Bernal has attacked out of the peloton, and is trying to bridge up to the lead group.

UAE are controlling the peloton, setting tempo. They don't appear to have anyone in the front group.

The peloton earlier, when Ineos were instigating the initial moves.

The riders are climbing again, up the second hill of the day - the category three Puerto de la Paradilla.

There looks to be more than 20 riders in this lead group.

Marit has had a crash.

The first chase group has caught the leaders, forming a big new lead group.

Actually, it's not the 'peloton' that's behind them, but rather a series of smaller groups that the peloton has fractured into.

There are eight riders in this lead group, including some big names, but their lead on the peloton is only a few seconds.

150KM TO GO

Buitrago leads this group over the top of the climb, with Landa and Ciccone also having joined it.

KOM - ALTO DE LA ESCONDIDA

Five riders join Buitrago, including Aular, Vansevenant and Dunbar.

Buitrago pushes on off the front to go solo, 1km from the summit.

The riders at the start.

This lead group keeps getting bigger and bigger as more riders join it from the peloton.

A group of about 10 has joined Ciconne and Rivera.

Ciccone has attacked, and got a gap with Ineos' Rivera.

That group's been brought back by the peloton.

Yet another Ineos rider, Langellotti, is at the front of the lead group, trying to push on.

About 12 more riders are about to join them, while the peloton is only seconds behind.

About 7 riders have done so, including a third Ineos rider, Kwiatkowski.

There are more attackers jumping out of the peloton trying to join the Ineos duo.

Egan Bernal has gone clear of the peloton, and joined his teammate Ganna.

There’s a flurry of attacks right from the flag, and Ganna has managed to get a small gap.

The race at last gets going, right at the foot of the first climb of the day, the category three Alto de la Escondida.

And we're off!

OFFICIAL START

Elia Viviani is the latest to get a bike change. He was one of the riders to go down in the crash.

Now an Arkea rider is getting a bike change. Still we wait to start.

The start’s been delayed some more as Bahrain-Victorious’s Mathijs Paasschens has a mechanical.

The official start has been delayed as they wait for those held up by that crash to return to the peloton.

The other major narrative playing out today is the race for the podium. Tom Pidcock still holds on to the place, but only by 39 seconds ahead of Jai Hindley, who is a third week specialist and tends to end Grand Tours strongly. Hindley’s bound to have his eye on that spot, and Pidcock may have to produce one of the climbing performances of his career to hold on to it.

UAE's Mikkel Bjerg is one of those riders.

There's been a minor incident in the peloton in the neutralised one. A few riders appear to have crashed at slow speed, but all seem OK.

João Almeida believes he can take the red jersey today. “It’s not much, to be honest,” he said in a pre-race interview of his deficit of 44 seconds. “I think everything is open.”

The riders have left the unofficial start and will be racing soon.

This is set to be a significant day in the career of Jonas Vingegaard. The supremacy of Tadej Pogačar means he hasn't actually won a Grand Tour since the 2023 Tour de France, since when he has made the podium three times. He will not want to extend that run to four podium finishes without a win by losing the red jersey today.

There is more than enough climbing today for Almeida to gain those 44 seconds. The five mountains today amount to a total of 4,226m elevation gain, including the feared Bola del Mundo, a horrible summit finish which could cause absolute carnage.

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This is the penultimate stage of the race, and the last in the mountains - and the GC race remains on a knife edge. Just 44 seconds separate Jonas Vingegaard and João Almeida at the top of classification, and the latter will need to throw everything at gaining that time today.

Hello and welcome to stage 20 of the Vuelta a España!