Stage 20 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 was the Queen Stage of this year’s Vuelta and was set to be contested in the Spanish province of Burgos. Race organizer Unipublic had chosen a whooping climbing menu for stage 20 of Vuelta a Espana, which would take the riders 172 kilometers from Villarcayo to Picon Blanco and force the remaining cyclists in the Vuelta peloton to climb no less than seven mountains in the final mountain battle of this year’s race.

The route of stage 20 would conclude with a finale on the Picon Blanco climb (Category One; 8 km; 9%, where Primoz Roglic had also dominated in last year’s race. Before reaching the Picon Blanco, the riders would have to conquer Las Estacas de Trueba (Category Three; 9.2 km; 3%), the Puerto de La Braguia ((Category Three; 5.8 km; 5.3%), the Alto del Caracol (Category Two; 10.7 km; 5.4 km), the Portillo de Lunada (Category One; 14.1 km; 6.1%), Portillo de la Sia (Category Two; 7.2 km; 5.8%), and the Puerto de Los Tornos (Category One; 11.2 km; 5.8%).

Sunday’s final stage 21 of this year’s Vuelta a Espana would be an individual time trial in the streets of Madrid, so today’s Queen stage would be the final opportunity for the climbing aces in the peloton to shine on the mountain roads of Spain and reach their absolute peaks in the general classification. 

New race leader Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) had grabbed La Roja in Rioja in yesterday’s mountaintop finish of stage 19. Second-ranked Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R) would have to fight off attacks from riders such as Enric Mas (Movistar), Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers), who would all be fighting to advance in the general classification and possibly reach for a podium position by delivering a remarkable performance in today’s stage 20.

Defending Vuelta champion Sepp Kuss had delivered a somewhat disappointing performance in this year’s Vuelta and as he was almost eleven minutes behind Roglic in the GC, he would possibly be allowed to take part in a breakaway, while hoping to take a memorable stage victory for his Visma-Lease a Bike team.

Stage 20 got off to a fine start under sunny skies in Villarcayo, where the temperature was not overly high, and the riders appeared both encouraged and engaged.

Riders launched attacks from the very beginning of the stage. While some teams and riders were aiming to lay the foundations for a memorable and eye-catching stage victory, other teams were sending their lieutenants into breakaways, so they could function as front posts for their general classification favorites later in the stage.

Harold Tejada, Marco Frigo (PremierTech), and Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) were some of the first riders to break away from the peloton in the slightly uphill terrain. They were joined by Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Clement Berthet (Decathlon-AG2R), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Dstny), Carlos Canal (Movistar), Jack Haig (Bahrain-Victorious), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), and two-time stage winner Pablo Castrillo (Kern Pharma). The ten men fought their way to an advantage of approximately one minute when 145 kilometers remained.

Other riders launched attacks from the main peloton, hoping to join what appeared to be the long breakaway of the day. While the riders were on Las Estacas de Trueba (Category Three) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe riders moved to the front of the main peloton to attempt to control the race and try to shut down any attacks by riders from teams that could pose a threat for Roglic in the general classification.

Vine was the first rider to reach the top of the first categorized climb of the day. He was followed by Castrillo and Frigo. The ten frontmen regrouped on the descent while having an advantage of approximately four minutes over the main peloton.

The riders reached the second categorized climb of the day – the Puerto de La Braguia (Category Three). While Vine was again the first rider in the breakaway group to reach the peak, Kasper Asgreen (Soudal-QuickStep) attacked solo from the main peloton, where riders from Ineos-Grenadiers moved to the front to set a fast pace for their GC favorite Carlos Rodriguez.

107 kilometers remained of today’s stage 20 and the riders were now approaching the Alto del Caracol, which was a Category Two climb. Ineos-Grenadiers riders were still leading the main peloton.

While the ten men continued their breakaway quest on the climb, Asgreen remained in between, while Ineos-Grenadiers were still setting a pace that suited its team leader Carlos Rodriguez in the main peloton.

The time advantage of the optimists in front was down to less than four minutes when approximately one hundred kilometers of the stage remained. The riders were still climbing the Alto del Caracol. Daniel Martinez and Aleksandr Vlasov were dropped from the peloton and would apparently not be able to deliver valuable support for their team leader Roglic. Martinez later abandoned the race due to illness.

Soler launched an attack from the front group when two kilometers of the Alto del Caracol remained. He was joined by teammate Vine, and Berthet. Vine was first across the top, followed by Soler and Berthet. Asgreen was caught by the peloton.

A fast descent followed, and the Ineos-Grenadiers riders were taking chances, while hoping to drop GC contenders from other teams. Jhonatan Narvaez was the first Ineos rider on the downslope. Portillo de Lunada was next on the climbing menu of the day. The 14.1-kilometer Category One climb featured gradients of up to ten percent.

Soler attacked solo on the climb, and Berthet tried to catch up with Vine on his wheel. Seven other riders were chasing one minute behind. Soudal-QuickStep took the lead in the main peloton.

Castrillo remarkably managed to bridge the gap to Vine and Berthet on the climb and was joined by Frigo. A quartet was now chasing Soler approximately half a minute behind the Spaniard until Frigo was dropped. Further back, Soudal-QuickStep riders were still spearheading a reduced peloton group.

Soler was again the first man to reach the peak of a climb, and he thereby secured additional points for the Best Climber Classification. The Spanish rider was now flying down in the blue-dotted jersey. Other riders were following widely dispersed along the descend. The main peloton was three minutes behind and still featured all the general classification favorites.

Soler was caught by Vine, Berthet, Frigo and Castrillo on the descend, but launched an additional attack as soon as the riders reached the Portillo de la Sia. The riders passed a sanctuary, but there would be no rest for the wicked in the peloton.

While only five of the remaining ten breakaway optimists now remained in front, Soudal-QuickStep riders were still setting a fast pace in the main peloton to further improve the odds for their team leader Mikel Landa. 

Soler reached the peak of Portillo de la Sia in solo fashion, while other riders followed forty seconds back. Soudal-QuickStep was doing great work in the peloton, and they were now only 02:30 behind Soler. The Soudal riders continued their effective work on the long and fast descent and the front men only had an advantage of 01:40  minutes with fifty kilometers left of the stage. 

The riders in La Vuelta now approached the Puerto de los Tornos, which would be the penultimate climb of today’s stage 20. The five front riders had regrouped on the descent, while a reduced main peloton was chasing 01:25 minutes behind, still spearheaded by the Soudal-QuickStep armada.

Nico Denz also abandoned the race and the Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe team had now lost three riders in today’s stage. Primoz Roglic’s GC lead would be in jeopardy in today’s stage – and would he catch the same illness as his teammates before tomorrow’s time trial?

Soler led the front quintet onto the Puerto de los Tornos climb and stopped riding as the riders hit the serious gradients. It was now up to teammate Jay Vine to fly the UAE Team Emirates colors in the remaining part of the stage.

The main peloton group had now been reduced to a small general classification favorites group. Would the penultimate climb have a decisive effect on the stage result and the GC?

While the breakaway compatriots were caught by the GC favorites group, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) was unable to keep up with the other GC favorites. He was now chasing twenty seconds behind approximately fifteen riders. 

While Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) attacked, Skjelmose caught the GC favorites group. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers) was now chasing 01:25 minutes back despite the previous hard work from his teammates.

Mikel Landa attacked but was caught.

Pavel Sivakov was the first rider to reach the summit of the Puerto de Los Tornos. The GC favorites group was chasing twenty seconds behind the Frenchman. Carlos Rodriguez was now approximately 02:30 minutes back – a sad destiny for the Spanish rider on the penultimate day of the Vuelta.

Landa tried his luck on the descent. But the Picon Blanco climb to the finish line still awaited the riders. The Category One climb had an average gradient of nine percent, but with much steeper sections of 17-18 percent.

Sivakov was the first rider to enter the Picon Blanco. At this point the Frenchman had a lead of fifty seconds over the Soudal-QuickStep-led GC favorites group.

Primoz Roglic moved to the front of the GC favorites group together with Landa. Skjelmose got dropped, but the Danish yoyo rejoined the other GC favorites.

Sivakov’s lead had been reduced to forty seconds with six kilometers left. Florian Lipowitz was now leading the GC group for team captain Roglic. He continued to grind seconds off Sivakov’s advantage.

Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-Alula) tried his luck with a bold attack from the GC group.

Roglic attacked when four kilometers remained of today’s stage 20. Enric Mas responded as did David Gaudu. Richard Carapaz reacted. Other GC favorites were dropped.

Gaudu moved to the front, other GC riders rotated along with the Frenchman. 

Gaudu and Berrade attacked and were now chasing Sivakov and Dunbar. 2.5 kilometers remained.

Mas attacked from behind. Carapaz and Roglic went along. Sivakov couldn’t keep up and fell back. Dunbar was now in front tailed by Gaudu a few seconds behind. Roglic, Carapaz, Mas, and Berrade followed twelve seconds behind with two kilometers left of the stage.

Carapaz led the group that was chasing Dunbar in the final kilometer. The Ecuadorian rider was again showing great initiative and courage for his EF Education-EasyPost outfit.

Landa attacked, hoping to drop the other GC favorites and reel in Dunbar.

Eddie Dunbar managed to keep the eager chasers at bay. The Irish rider won the Queen Stage of Vuelta a Espana 2024 for Team PremierTech ahead of Enric Mas and Primoz Roglic.

Roglic extended his lead in the general classification to 02:02 minutes. O’Connor remains second, while Mas is third, 02:11 behind the Slovenian race leader. Carapaz is three minutes behind Roglic in fourth, Gaudu is fifth, and Denmark’s Mattias “yoyo” Skjelmose is sixth.

Saturday’s stage 21 of La Vuelta a Espana 2024 will be the final stage of this year’s race and the final stage of this season’s final Grand Tour. Vuelta race organizer Unipublic has designed stage 21 as a 24.6-kilometer individual time trial in the streets of Madrid, the capital of Spain. Look for the time trial specialists in the Vuelta peloton to fight for a stage victory, and the riders in the top ten of the general classification to battle it out to obtain the best possible rankings in the final GC.

Stay tuned to Roadcycling.com for continuous coverage from Vuelta a Espana 2024.

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