Stage 20

The road

At the start

The last day in the Sierras of Madrid

One mountain stage stands between Remco Evenepoel and the first Belgian Grand Tour win since 1978, and it is a large one: 181 kilometres, 4,000 metres of climbing, five classified passes with almost no recovery between the last three. Enric Mas is 2:07 down and out of chances after today. These sierras took the Vuelta off Tom Dumoulin in 2015 and off Philippa York in 1985.

How it was won

1. 155 km to go

   Movistar take the fight on

   The Spanish team put themselves fully in charge in the Sierras of Madrid, shaving forty seconds off the break's lead. This is Mas's last chance and everyone knows it.

2. 238 km to go

   Carapaz confirms the polka dots

   Meintjes attacks with Higuita on his wheel and Carapaz bridges across a couple of kilometres later, going to the front at the summit to scoop ten points and mathematically win the mountains classification. Behind, Mas makes his first move and Rodríguez struggles off the back.

3. 316 km to go

   Carapaz goes solo

   The Ecuadorian treats the start of the Puerto de Cotos, sixteen kilometres from home, as his cue and rides away from Higuita's company for good.

4. 411 km to go

   López shatters the GC group

   With eleven kilometres left the Colombian jumps and the pace tears the group apart — Rodríguez immediately gone, the rest sweeping past Gesink and Mäder to within a minute of the leaders. Another dig puts O'Connor and Hindley in trouble before it regroups.

5. 57 km to go

   The last mountain points of the Vuelta

   Carapaz drops Higuita in the final kilometre of the climb to take the summit, then hits the plateau with just twenty seconds to defend over six flat kilometres — with Almeida driving the chase behind, needing time on Rodríguez.

6. 6At the line

   Carapaz's third, Evenepoel's Vuelta

   He holds the twenty seconds all the way in for a third stage win and the mountains jersey. And behind him Remco Evenepoel rolls across with the red jersey intact — Belgium's first Grand Tour winner since Johan De Muynck in 1978.

The result