Eddie Dunbar takes second win of Vuelta a Espana to triumph on Stage 20, Primoz Roglic strengthens grip on red jersey

A stalemate between the general classification principles on the final climb of this year's Vuelta a Espana allowed Ireland's Eddie Dunbar to slip off the front to snatch a second stage win of the race.

Although gaps opened up in the last kilometre they were largely in the single digits, producing no positional changes at the top of the general classification.

Primoz Roglic was able to ride defensively on his first day in the race lead, to strengthen his grip on the red jersey as he heads towards a likely fourth title in Madrid on Sunday.

The road to the Cantabrian climb of Picon Blanco was not the longest of the Vuelta but it did contain more climbing, at almost 5000m, than any other. This was shared across seven categorized climbs, creating a classic Vuelta "sharks' tooth" parcours.

After three arduous weeks, it was inviting to just a hardy few who found themselves in the last chance saloon. Thomas De Gent, riding his 500th Grand Tour stage might have been expected to give it one last try but he was content to simply see the race to the finish.

Opening salvos came fairly thick but not especially fast. Eleven riders would form a main break that had little chance of staying intact on the climbs. The most interested members of it were the UAE Team Emirates pair of Marc Soler and Jay Vine, who found themselves level on points in the mountains competition and who had spent many enjoyable hours up the road together in this race.

Although Soler was the rider wearing polka dots, Vine was the one who had been given the nod. He took top points on both the first three categorized climbs, and gave himself a healthy lead over his team-mate in the competition. Soler was riding for fun, keen to end his Vuelta swinging unpredictably. He kicked away from the rest on the first Cat 1 climb, the Portillo de Lunada, to take 10 points and pull back some of those lost. Another maximum on the next, the Portillo de la Sia, brought Soler to parity, once Vine's second place had been factored in.

The peloton, for their part, weren't prepared to let the breakaway take the stage as well. They allowed the lead to extend to five minutes, before T-Rex QuickStep hit the front to begin gradually winding it in. With two climbs remaining, the lead group was done for. For Marc Soler that was literally and visibly the case, as he put in one last effort before swinging almost to a standstill. Vine, level with Soler on points but behind by virtue of difficulty, still needed to take something from that climb to secure the KOM.

As he was absorbed by the reduced bunch it seemed likely he would plunge immediately through the trapdoor, but the Australian found enough in the tank to hang on to its tail. As they neared summit he was able to take up the necessary position within the line to secure two points over the top.

Meanwhile Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates) had hit out ahead of the key players, gaining a small advantage on the ascent, which he was able to amplify to almost as the road headed downwards.

The bets were on him serving as a satellite for Adam Yates but as the red jersey group hit the final climb it was immediately clear the British rider didn't have the legs to hang onto it, let alone launch off the front.

The gradients rose into the teens and Sivakov was obliged to try to find more than he had. He held out longer than he might have but a minute quickly halved and halved again. He lasted longer than he might have as the principles largely looked around at each other. Roglic, secure in the red jersey, could afford to ride defensively and even let wheels go. Further back on GC positions were more precarious, gaps much smaller.

Five kilometres from the finish line Dunbar put in a good-sized attack, but not an overly committed one. What gave it heft was the lack of threat he posed in the general classification, and he quickly pulled out to 30 seconds over the leaders. Dunbar reached Sivakov after 1500m and continued on alone as the red jersey riders put in repeated small efforts but none that were able to really hurt.

On gradients of almost 20% the physical gaps looked less significant than those measured by the clock. Even with 300m to go Dunbar could not afford to ease up. He crossed to secure a second victory just seven seconds ahead of Enric Mas (Movistar).

"This one feels sweeter [than the first stage win]," said Dunbar afterwards. "I said to a few people after the stage win last week that it was not how I expected to win a Grand Tour stage. I always imagined winning at the top of a climb, whether from a breakaway or a GC group."

Physically, he said, "I just felt good. I backed myself on the climb climb and paced myself well... I rode the steep parts pretty hard and the flat bits pretty conservative to make sure I had enough in the tank [to finish it off]."

That second place for Mas came with six seconds of bonus for the Mallorcan which, when added to the seven more he'd improved on O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R), puts him within ten seconds of second place going into the final time trial in Madrid. Both look secure on the podium, with Richard Carapaz (EF Education EasyPost) unable to make inroads on either.

As a superior time triallist compared to his rivals Roglic is all but guaranteed to take a fourth Vuelta title, which will make him the joint most decorated rider in the race's history.

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