Eire’s Eddie Dunbar (Workforce Jayco AlUla) held on to win a punishing stage 20 of the Vuelta a España on Saturday, his second stage success, with three-time former champion Primoz Roglič coming in third and lengthening his total lead.
Dunbar, who additionally received stage 11, took off in pursuit of the chief Pavel Sivakov with 5 kilometres to the end on the ultimate climb of this 12 months’s Vuelta to Picon Blanco and went on to carry off the chasing group after overtaking the Frenchman.
“This one positively feels a bit sweeter. I stated after my stage win final week that it was by no means the way in which I anticipated to win a Grand Tour stage, I all the time imagined profitable on high of a climb,” Dunbar stated.
Spain’s Enric Mas (Movistar) got here in second with Roglič, who took management of the purple jersey after profitable Friday’s stage, shut behind, and the Slovenian now has an total lead of two minutes and two seconds over Australia’s Ben O’Connor.
The 172-km trip from Villarcayo contained seven categorised climbs to check the riders on the penultimate stage, and it was the Irishman who proved strongest, whereas Roglič (Pink Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) did all that was wanted to strengthen his grip on the purple jersey.
Dunbar, who has struggled with crashes and accidents in latest instances, made his break from a small group of riders containing the highest 5 within the basic classification.
“I knew this climb from a couple of years in the past and knew there have been steep bits and elements the place it levelled out, and that it was a bit totally different to what was proven on the profile,” Dunbar stated.
“I rode the steep elements fairly laborious and rode the flat bits fairly conservative to ensure I had sufficient left within the tank.”
Roglič received three consecutive Vueltas from 2019 and got here into this 12 months’s race as clear favorite, however he had risked shedding out to O’Connor.
O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) took the purple jersey from Roglič after profitable stage six, opening up a niche of virtually 5 minutes, however the Slovenian slowly chipped away on the lead, and seized management in type when profitable stage 19.
Sunday’s last stage is a 24.6-km particular person time trial in Madrid, the place Roglič is about to be topped champion for the fourth time. Mas is third total, 9 seconds down on O’Connor.
“Undoubtedly in the future nearer than yesterday, so the best course, however tomorrow is a GC day so we now have to complete it off,” Roglic stated.