France’s Clement Champoussin claimed a stunning win in a dramatic penultimate stage at the Vuelta a Espana.
Jumbo Visma’s Primoz Roglic all but confirmed a third straight Vuelta victory, finishing the stage in second and extending his lead over Enric Mas in the general classification.
Mas’ Movistar teammate Miguel Angel Lopez began the day in third, but abandoned the race with 20km to go.
Britain’s Adam Yates is up to fourth overall following a third-place finish.
Sunday’s final stage is a 33.8km individual time trial from Padron to Santiago de Compostela.
UAE Team Emirates rider Ryan Gibbons hit the final climb of Saturday’s 202km stage from Sanxenxo to Mos in the lead, but was clawed back with less than 5km remaining by a group including Roglic, Mas, Ineos’ Yates and Jack Haig of Bahrain Victorious.
Champoussin, 23, who only turned professional last year, then stole in with a late attack of his own to take victory as the general classification riders tried to finesse the closing stages.
“I’m super happy with the place I finished in today and with the way it went,” said Roglic. “I was mainly looking at Yates and Mas.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’ve been waiting for this and finally here we are.”
Stage 20 results
1. Clement Champoussin (Fra) AG2R – Citroen Team 5 hrs 21 mins 50 secs
2. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo Visma +6 secs
3. Adam Yates (GB) Ineos Grenadiers +8 secs
4. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team same time
5. Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious +12 secs
6. Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team DSM +16 secs
7. Mikel Bizkarra (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi +23 secs
8. Ryan Gibbons (RSA) UAE Team Emirates +26 secs
9. Gino Mader (Swi) Bahrain Victorious same time
10. Floris de Tier (Bel) Alpecin – Fenix +50 secs
General classification after stage 20
1. Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo Visma 83 hrs 11 mins 27 secs
2. Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar Team +2 mins 38 secs
3. Jack Haig (Aus) Bahrain Victorious +4 mins 48 secs
4. Adam Yates (GB) Ineos Grenadiers +5 mins 48 secs
5. Gino Mader (Swi) Bahrain Victorious +8 mins 14 secs
6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers +11 mins 38 secs
7. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo – Visma +13 mins 42 secs
8. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis +16 mins 11 secs
9. David De La Cruz (Spa) UAE Team Emirates +16 mins 19 secs
10. Felix Grosschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe +20 mins 30 secs
