Stage 20

The road

At the start

Two first-category climbs, a flat finish

Cobo answered everything Froome threw at him on El Vivero and still leads by thirteen seconds, with Wiggins at 1:41 and Mollema at 2:03. Today is the last chance to change any of it: two first-category climbs in the Basque hills, the Puerto de Urkiola forty-six kilometres from home, and then a flat run into Vitoria that will suit a sprinter perfectly if the climbing settles nothing.

How it was won

1. 1100 km to go

   Twenty climbers up the road

   The last chance for anyone still hunting a stage, so the break is full of climbers and twenty riders deep. After 99 kilometres they have 4:10, and it is already shrinking.

2. 246 km to go

   Barredo goes on the Urkiola

   The break arrives at the first-category Urkiola with 36 seconds and no legs left. Carlos Barredo attacks what remains of it as the peloton swallows the rest, and crests alone.

3. 310 km to go

   Barredo and Sastre, thirty-one seconds

   The seven chasers are caught with exactly thirty kilometres to go, and Leopard Trek and Sky call an unspoken truce to set up the sprint. Barredo and Sastre share the front and hold half a minute, until Barredo raises the white flag at eight kilometres and leaves Sastre alone.

4. 4At the line

   Vitoria

   Sastre is caught inside three kilometres and Leopard Trek go back to work. Daniele Bennati, frustrated for three weeks, opens a very long sprint and is simply strong enough to hold it from Gasparotto and Caruso.

The result