Landa, on the other hand, had little to do with the general classification throughout the entire Vuelta. The 36-year-old, who is set to end his WorldTour career at the end of the season and return to his home team, Euskaltel - Euskadi, was part of a breakaway for just under 130 kilometres of the race’s queen stage – the 187-kilometre leg from La Calahorra to the Collado del Alguacil. However, for much of the time he was not in the leading group, but amongst the chasers, who at one point were more than five minutes behind the front runners, a group that included Johannessen from the very start.

Like Debruyne, Landa made his move up the field on the penultimate climb; at the foot of the Alguacil, they then broke away from the remaining leaders with another surge, which only Johannessen was able to follow. In the end, however, Landa proved to be the strongest, gaining a further 47 seconds on the Norwegian and 1 minute 27 seconds on the Belgian.

Gall attacks too late

“I made the most of my last chance today,” said the winner at the finish line, presumably referring not only to this Vuelta but possibly to much more besides. It was his second stage win in the Vuelta a España overall, eleven years after his first. Over the course of his entire career, it was his 17th victory as a professional, all of which were secured in Spain or Italy.

Just as thrilling as the battle for the stage win was the fight for a place on the podium. Under normal circumstances, Mas would have been unbeatable in the Red Jersey. But between Roglic and Gall, it could well have been a really close contest once again. The Austrian also made up ground with an attack on the final climb, taking a few seconds off Mas as well. But it wasn’t quite enough to move up to second place. To do that, Gall would have had to take more of a risk. Instead, he only attacked around three kilometres before the summit.

Mas now holds a 2-minute 15-second lead over Roglic heading into the final stage, whilst his lead over Gall stands at 29 minutes. Richard Carapaz (EF Education – EasyPost) also managed to defend fourth place. Behind him, however, Sepp Kuss (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) made a huge leap forward, jumping from eleventh to fifth. The American had taken a risk with an early attack and come out on top.

Van Aert makes the mountains classification exciting once again, whilst Onley holds his own against Omrzel

Things also got exciting again for a while in the battle for the mountains jersey. This was because Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Biek), unlike Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain - Victorious), had made it into the leading group and won all three of the first mountain classifications there. However, he would have needed one more, and points at the finish line would also have been required to take the mountains jersey off Buitrago. If the Colombian crosses the finish line tomorrow, he is guaranteed to keep it, as no points are awarded on the final day. The same applies to van Aert with regard to the green jersey.

In the battle for the white jersey awarded to the best young rider, Oscar Onley (Netcompany INEOS) has successfully fended off his rival Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain - Victorious). The Briton gained a further four seconds on his young rival during the final mountain stage and now leads the Slovenian by 1 minute and 10 seconds.

It is highly likely that this will not change on the final day. There is discussion as to whether the times for the overall classification on the final stage before the final laps will be taken in a similar way to the Tour de France and the circuit around Montmartre, with the stage victory then being the only thing at stake.

2026 Vuelta a España – Results of Stage 20

Here’s how Stage 20 of the 2026 Vuelta a España unfolded

Attacks began right from the start of the day. Van Aert and Ivo Oliveira (UAE Team Emirates – XRG) were two of the first attackers to break away just a few kilometres after the fast-paced start. But that wasn’t the end of it. Twelve more professionals joined the breakaway – six of them wearing the Uno-X Mobility jersey. Red Bull also sent two riders, including Finn Fisher-Black, a strong climber. Sprinter Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) was also in the breakaway.

However, the gap to the main field was less than a minute as they approached the Puerto de Los Blancares (3rd category); a chasing group led by Buitrago was reeled back in by the peloton before they managed to catch up with the leaders. Shortly afterwards, however, a group of just under 30 riders broke away from the peloton and set off in pursuit of the leaders.

Whilst the main peloton was able to come to terms with this situation and allowed the gap to open up, the chasing group – which had swelled to 50 riders – struggled to make the break to the front. Here too, the gap was once again almost three minutes after 70 kilometres; for the peloton, it was two minutes more. At its peak, the gap even reached ten minutes.

Landa and Debruyne attempt a breakaway

On the first ascent of the Puerto de El Purche (1st category), the leading group then reshuffled. Eleven riders stayed together. The general classification favourites were also almost isolated, though they still had riders in the groups ahead of them. On the second ascent of the climb, the race situation remained largely unchanged, with the favourites’ group reducing the gap to the leaders to seven and a half minutes.

On the approach to the Puerto de El Duque (1st category), Uno-X continued to work for Tobias Johannessen, causing the peloton to gradually thin out. Landa had meanwhile worked his way to the front from the chasing group, whilst Kuss had launched an attack from the group of favourites.

Once Debruyne had also made the break at the front, he didn’t stay there for long. Together with Landa and Johannessen, he broke away from the rest of the group. Among the favourites, following an attack by Carapaz, Mas, Roglic and Gall left their support riders behind to follow the Colombian. Later, however, the group made a series of half-hearted attempts to break away, allowing some riders from behind to catch up again.

Gall goes on the attack in the final

With a one-minute lead over his closest pursuer, Pau Miquel (Bahrain – Victorious), a good three minutes over a group led by Kuss, and just under nine minutes over Mas and co., the leading trio began the final climb. There, after two kilometres, Landa broke away on his own. Debruyne was unable to respond, whilst Johannessen remained a short distance behind. Nevertheless, Landa managed to defend his lead.

Just as the Spaniard was approaching the Teufelslappen and looked set to take the win, Gall attacked further back in the pack. Roglic couldn’t keep up, and Mas also struggled, unable to hold off the Austrian. In the end, however, he only managed to make up a few seconds on the Red Jersey wearer. The question then arose: when would Roglic arrive? But the Slovenian also managed to preserve some of his lead as he crossed the finish line.