2019 Vuelta a España Stage 20 Results & Recap
Stage 20 of the 2019 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Pogacar wins stage 20
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) won the penultimate stage of the Vuelta a Espana after a well-timed attack, 40 kilometres away from the finish at Plataforma de Gredos. The win marks the third victory for the Slovenian at the Vuelta a Espana, a boost up to third place on the overall podium and the best young rider lead ahead of Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team).
“It definitely took patience,” Pogacar said after the stage. “My legs felt good but the morale wasn’t that high in the first part of the stage. Then I saw everybody was uncomfortable with the cold and the rain. I felt good in the last climb and I attacked. Lopez had done a big effort and I chose the right moment. I had good support on the road from Slovenian fans, from my family and from the team car. They gave me incredible motivation, and I went full gas for last hour. They make it easier for me. It was incredible, with so many emotions. I don’t realise that I’ve won three stages in my first Grand Tour. I barely realise I’m gonna be on the final podium of La Vuelta. It will be an honour to stand on the same podium as Alejandro Valverde and Primoz Roglic. It’s really incredible. I never imagined this. It will take me some days to understand what I’ve done.”
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) masterfully held off all attacks from GC rivals in the final mountain tests to keep the roja jersey before the final stage in Madrid tomorrow.
“I’m just relieved,” Roglic said. “It was the last really hard day in the mountains. A Slovenian won again, it’s nice. The closer we get to the end, the harder it gets. I stayed in my position and I’m really happy. It was a really hard day for us. I crashed quite hard yesterday. But we’ve showed in the past days we are really strong and we showed it again today. Everyone did an amazing job. Tomorrow is the last day, I’m looking forward to it. Until now, I was only smiling only in secret. It’s a nice feeling not to have big mountains anymore, but there’s still one day. And then hopefully tomorrow we can smile even more. I don’t want to compare teams against each other. We have strong guys and obviously we can fight for the win in almost every race and that’s the most important. Hopefully we’ll fight stronger in the coming years.”
The last mountain stage was hard from the start, when nine riders escaped on the first of five ascents. Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida), Mitch Docker (EF Education First), Steve Morabito (Groupama-FDJ), Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha Alpecin), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Mikel Iturria, Sergio Samitier (Euskadi-Murias).
The lead changed hands several times as Astana controlled the peloton, a few riders bridged across to the front group.
On the Alto Navatalgordo Damien Howson (Mitchelton-Scott), Ruben Guerreiro (Katusha Alpecin), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) and Sergio Samitier (Euskadi-Murias) dropped the rest of the break. Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Ineos) bridged across and joined with 115km to go.
The pressure Astana put on the peloton brought the GC group down to 20 riders on the Puerto de Peña Negra, which was were Pogacar launched his attack, 4.5 kilometres from the top and with 35km to go. The disorganization between Movistar and Astana helped the young Slovenian stay off the front, take over the lead of the race and hold a 1:30 advantage.
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