Vuelta 2021: Champoussin wins spectacle race, Roglic stays in red

foto: Cor VosAttacker Clément Champoussin wins the 20th of La Vuelta. Primoz Roglic finishes in second and virtually seals the overall victory. Enric Mas still sits in second, while Jack Haig moves up to third, as Miguel Ángel López abandons after losing minutes due to missing an important move. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 20th stage Vuelta a España 2021

1. Clément Champoussin (fra)
2. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 0.06
3. Adam Yates (gbr) + 0.08
4. Enric Mas (spa) s.t.
5. Jack Haig (aus) + 0.12
6. Chris Hamilton (aus) + 0.16
7. Mikel Bizkarra (spa) + 0.23
8. Ryan Gibbons (rsa) + 0.26
9. Gino Mäder (swi) s.t.
10. Floris De Tier (bel) + 0.50

GC after stage 20
1. Primoz Roglic (slo)
2. Enric Mas (spa) + 2.38
3. Jack Haig (aus) + 4.48
4. Adam Yates (gbr) + 5.48
5. Gino Mäder (swi) + 8.14
6. Egan Bernal (col) + 11.38
7. Sepp Kuss (usa) + 13.42
8. Guillaume Martin (fra) + 16.11
9. David de la Cruz (spa) + 16.19
10. Felix Großschartner (aut) + 20.30

Race report
Stan De wulf initiates the break of the day after 27 kilometres of hard racing. Matteo Trentin is the first to bridge across before King of the Mountain Michael Storer, Romain Bardet, Mark Padun, Clément Champoussin, Jesús Herrada, Jan Hirt, Nick Schultz, Floris de Tier, Sylvain Moniquet, Chris Hamilton, Lilian Calmejane, Daniel Navarro, Mikel Bizkarra and Ryan Gibbons also jump across. They carve out a lead of more than 11 minutes.

Trentin goes solo in the descent of the Alto de Mabia. Just ahead of the Alto de Mougas Calmejane, Bardet, Padun and Gibbons rejoin him, while Storer and Champoussin bridge across on the climb.

The peloton is trailing 5 minutes behind when Yates speeds up on the lower slopes. Roglic, Mas, López, Bernal, Haig, Kruijswijk, Mäder and Großschartner follow the move.

When Yates goes again, he is accompanied by Roglic, Haig, Mäder and Mas. López misses the move and the other five will open op such a gap that Haig overhauls him on GC.

Storer seals the victory in the mountains classification at the Mougas summit before Gibbons strikes on descent.

The group Roglic overhauls the remnants of the breakaway before the finish climb. So Gibbons is the only attacker.

Yates slips away on the steep gradients. Roglic, Mas and Haig jump to his wheel en catch Gibbons 3.5 kilometres before the finish.

The top 4 keeps looking at each other a bit too long and Champoussin is one of the riders who appears out of thin air in the finale. He shoots straight out the front with 1.5 kilometres remaining and forges on to victory.

Roglic wins the sprint for second place ahead of Yates. The Slovene is next to certain to win his third Vuelta in a row.

Another interesting read: route 20th stage 2021 Vuelta.