A fractured pelvis in April, an hors categorie summit in September
Mikel Landa broke his pelvis at the Tour of the Basque Country in the spring. That came on top of several seasons already chewed up by injury. On Saturday afternoon he crossed the line alone at the top of the Collado del Alguacil, the only hors categorie climb on the route, and won stage 20 of the Vuelta.
The Soudal Quick-Step rider got into a large breakaway inside the opening kilometres out of La Calahorra. Tobias Halland Johannessen and Ramses Debruyne went with him and stayed there until the foot of the final climb. Landa attacked. Both cracked. The 36-year-old rode the rest on his own.
It is his first Grand Tour stage win in nine years.
“I’m very happy. It’s something I’ve been chasing for a long time, and now I’ve won again,” he said at the finish. “It’s really emotional. The season has been very tough, this Vuelta has been very tough for me, and today was the last chance.”
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Mas gives up nothing on the last day that mattered
Behind the break, the general classification refused to move. Felix Gall came home ahead of the other contenders. Enric Mas covered him without fuss and carries the red jersey into Sunday’s finale in Granada.
Same podium as at breakfast: Mas, then Primoz Roglic, then Gall, with the Austrian clawing back a handful of seconds on the Slovenian.
Sepp Kuss provided the other movement of the day. The Visma-Lease a Bike rider went early and long, and climbed from 11th to 5th overall. Oscar Onley went the other way, dropped on the first major climb, the Netcompany-Ineos rider now sitting below him.
Five climbs, three of them first category
La Calahorra to the Collado del Alguacil, 186.8 kilometres, five classified ascents including three at first category. No stage in this 81st edition carried more vertical metres. The scrap to make the breakaway ran on for most of the first hour, with Wout van Aert opening hostilities from kilometre zero with the polka-dot jersey on his mind.
One day left, a finishing circuit in Granada. Barring something strange, Mas gets crowned there. Landa already has what he came for.
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