Vuelta a España stage 20: Wout Poels pips Remco Evenepoel as Sepp Kuss locks up red jersey

Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious) denied Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) a fourth stage win of the Vuelta a España, pipping the Belgian to the line in a photo-finish at the end of stage 20, as Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) safely sewed up the red jersey ahead of Sunday’s final stage.

With the Madrid finale largely a procession with a sprint finish, the penultimate day in the hills north-west of the Spanish capital was designed with an ambush in mind, but, given Jumbo-Visma already had such a tight grip on the overall podium, the drama of 1985 and 2015 wasn't to repeat itself.

While the main general classification contenders simply kept tabs on each other on the steep final climb, the remnants of the day's large breakaway had already been over it, and five were left to fight it out in the home straight.

In fact, Poels didn't wait for the home straight, attacking from the back of the group through a left-hand bend nearly 500 metres from the line. It was an audacious move but it turned out to be tactical perfection. Though not considered the fastest sprinters, he was able to open a gap through the bend, then empty the tank on the slight final rise, before holding on in the final 100 metres.

Evenepoel, who had his hands of his bars as Poels launched his attack, scrambled into response and nearly made it, but just ran out of road. The Belgian, who won his third stage of this Vuelta 48 hours previous, went all-out and slowly closed the gap, but had no time to nestle into the slipstream as he looked to pass the Dutchman on the right. He threw for the line, and it was close, but he knew it was no good, and he bashed the bars in frustration as he zoomed past - finishing with greater speed but with the inferior timing.

Pelayo Sanchez (Burgos-BH) produced a spirited sprint behind Evenepoel but tailed off at the end and settled for third ahead of Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny), while the final rider of the group, Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) trailed in four seconds down.

• Read more: Remco Evenepoel and Ineos Grenadiers is 'a closed chapter' says Lefevere

Kuss seals the deal

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After all the controversy, Jumbo-Visma's trio cross the line arm-in-arm

There is still one stage remaining, but given the only real hurdle for Kuss in Madrid will be staying on his bike as the bunch winds up for one final sprint, he could afford to treat stage 20 as his crowning glory.

Indeed, as the group of general classification contenders approached finish after a day of subdued stalemate, he and his two teammates, Jonas Vingegaard and Primož Roglič, dropped off the back in order to cross the line arm-in-arm. After all the internal tensions and controversies of this final week, this was a united front being presented for the world to see.

It did cost them a bit of time, as they conceded 16 seconds to the rest of the protagonists below the podium but, after their dominance throughout this race, they had more than enough to play with.

Kuss is therefore set to win this Vuelta, making it a historic feat for Jumbo-Visma in taking out all three Grand Tours. What's even more remarkable is that they've swept the podium here in Spain, and what's more remarkable still is that they've done it with the riders who won those other Grand Tours, Tour de France champion Vingegaard the runner-up and Giro d'Italia champion Roglič in third place.

"It was a super special moment. To be able to relax that much in the final k of a mountain stage, with your two teammates, is really cool. It hasn't sunk in yet," said Kuss, who also enjoyed some emotional moments with his family.

"That was the most special, just being with them, That's what it's all about in the end."

• Read more: Something changed in Sepp Kuss and he was ready to fight for it, says Jumbo-Visma director

A big breakaway

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Quick-Step dominated the breakaway for Evenepoel

The penultimate stage of the Vuelta featured no fewer than 10 categorised climbs on a relentlessly undulating 207km parcours that many were comparing to an Ardennes Classic. Such stages in the sierras north of Madrid have provided table-turning drama in Vuelta history, but Kuss was so far out in front, threatened only by his teammates and not even by them anymore, that the day, from a general classification perspective, fell rather flat.

It was over to the breakaway to make up for that and, sensing what might happen with the GC riders, there was plenty of appetite for an escape. Evenepoel, who has broken free consistently since tumbling out of GC contention in the second week, was at it again as the climbs started early, and he'd soon made it into a 31-man move alongside three of his teammates.

The full composition of the group was: Evenepoel Mattia Cattaneo, James Knox, Louis Vervaeke (Soudal Quick-Step), Wilco Kelderman (Jumbo-Visma), Marc Soler, Finn Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Wout Poels, Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious), Lennard Kämna, Ben Zwiehoff (Bora-Hansgrohe), Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ), Romain Bardet (dsm-firmenich), Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost), Iván García Cortina, Einer Rubio (Movistar), Andreas Kron, Sylvain Moniquet, Lennert Van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny), Edward Planckaert, Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Dorian Godon, Andrea Vendrame, Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R Citroën Team), Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), Matteo Sobrero (Jayco-AlUla), Élie Gesbert (Arkéa Samsic), Fernando Barceló, Joel Nicolau (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), and Pelayo Sánchez (Burgos-BH).

With Evenepoel having already locked up the mountains classification, there was no real interest in the points at the top of each climb, and the opening half of the stage was simply about gaining enough of an advantage to be able to contest the stage win.

Jumbo-Visma set a strong tempo behind but, with 100km to go, the gap reached six minutes, and from there it began to look more and more like a breakaway day.

The first real action came on the second ascent of the Alto de Santa María, as Zwiehoff kicked off a volley of attacks. Sánchez, marked by Cattaneo, got a gap over the top, but things came back together on the descent.

From there, Evenepoel's men looked to deter any attacking shenanigans by setting a strong tempo in team formation. On a steep uncategorised climb inside the final 50km, they upped the tempo and started to thin out the group, with 10 gone by the time they crested the penultimate climb, the Puerto de la Cruz Verde.

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Poels lights it up on the steep final climb

Cattaneo led the race onto the final climb of the Alto San Lorenzo de El Escorial, but there was soon an explosion as Poels lit the fireworks. The 4.5km climb averaged out to 6.5% but featured some hideous double-digit ramps, where Thomas bowed out of contention and Evenepoel struggled to go with the moves.

Van Eetvelt was the only one who could live with Poels at first, while Soler bridged across on a flatter section. Evenepoel was fighting to hang on, and even saw Sánchez rip away from him at the top, but those two managed to work their way across on the descent to set up a five-man group for the run-in.

Evenepoel tried a flyer shortly after the descent, but, with other groups chasing close at hand, there was soon sound cooperation, and the next rider to break rank was Poels with 500 metres to go, in what was a canny, strong, and stage-winning attack.

No GC fireworks

There was rather less drama in the peloton, and Jumbo-Visma kept what looked like a potentially unruly stage under lock and key. Dylan van Baarle and Robert Gesink patrolled for the early stages, and kept the breakaway under a relatively tight margin for the most part, but going into the second part of the stage they eased off rather than pressed on, and allowed the escapees to fight it out.

Arkéa-Samsic even came to the fore at one point to pace the peloton, but Jumbo-Visma came back for a show of strength - and unity - on the final climb. Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) sniffed out an attack on the double-digit ramps but Roglič quickly sprang into action and proceeded to lead the way with Kuss in his wheel.

On the upper reaches of the climb, it was down to the Jumbo trio, plus Landa, Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), Enric Mas (Movistar), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious). There was one notable absentee, as Cian Uijdtebroecks lost contact and lost over a minute.

Heading to the line, there were no serious attacks, and everyone knew the positions were largely wrapped up. That allowed Jumbo-Visma their crowning glory and cover photo from a tumultuous but ultimately ridiculously successful Vuelta.

What stage 20 means for the general classification

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Sepp Kuss celebrates with his family

With the Jumbo-Visma trio drifting back to celebrate, there was no change to the podium positions, with Kuss still leading Vingegaard by 17 seconds and Roglič by 1:08.

The rest did get a little closer, but Ayuso is still 3:44 down in fourth, his 19-second lead over Landa still in tact and with Mas still a further 11 seconds back.

Uijdtebroecks' troubles led to the only change in the top 10, with the impressive young Belgian dropping from 7th to 8th overall and seeing his teammate, Vlasov, take his place, some 8:19 down on Kuss.

Almeida remains in 9th place in what looks set to be the lowest Grand Tour finish of his career, while Buitrago was present and correct to round out the top 10.

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