Vuelta: Remco Evenepoel stands up to Enric Mas and will win his first Grand Tour on Sunday

Remco Evenepoel did not tremble northwest of Madrid on Saturday afternoon for the penultimate stage of the Tour of Spain.

The Belgian rider has confirmed his position as leader in the general classification of the Vuelta and should therefore savor his first career victory in a Grand Tour on Sunday.

“It's the most important day of my life so far, he assured before taking the start of the stage finally won by Richard Carapaz.

You feel so many emotions running through your body.

You are one day away from winning the Grand Tour.

This is also a historic moment for Belgian cycling, which had not placed one of its riders on the first step of a Grand Tour podium for 44 years!

Everything was decided in the last forty kilometers of the stage, in full ascent of the fourth difficulty of the course with a gradient approaching 7%.

This is the moment chosen by the runner-up to Evenepoel in the standings, the Spaniard Enric Mas, to attack the leader helped by a few members of the Movistar formation.

The rider from the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl team showed extraordinary resistance in standing up to the Spaniard who did not have the strength to relaunch a subsequent attack.

Carapaz also validates his blue polka dot jersey

On the start line of the 181 km long stage between Moralzarzal and Puerto de Navacerrada, the 22-year-old Belgian already enjoyed a relatively comfortable lead, slightly over two minutes, in the standings.

But this 20th round of the Tour of Spain seemed cut out for climbers with no less than five climbs concentrated on the second half of the route with, among others, the last two at 6.9%.

It was Robert Stannard who made the first conclusive breakaway of the stage and crossed the summit of the first difficulty in the lead.

The rider from the Alpecin-Deceuninck team did not go far from snatching the blue polka dot jersey from Richard Carapaz by also crossing the second summit of the course in the lead.

The Ecuadorian climber finally reasserted his authority at altitude by appropriating the third summit and validating his blue polka dot jersey from the next one.

Lopez and Arensman not far from styling the Ecuadorian on the post

Still, Stannard set a real pace in the lead, notably through a duel with Marc Soler halfway through the race.

The gap with the peloton of which Remco Evenepoel was a part thus increased beyond five minutes.

It was only when starting the third ascent of the course that the peloton managed to significantly and sustainably reduce this gap with the head of the race: less than four minutes before the Puerto de la Morcuera then under three minutes before the Puerto de Cotos with a minute gained at the top.

Held at a distance of around 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the red jersey group made a big comeback on the lead, being carried by a masterful Marc Soler.

In the middle of the last ascent of the Tour of Spain, the gap between the two groups hardly exceeded a minute.

Seemingly facing a glass ceiling in the heart of the climb, the peloton managed to claw back a few extra seconds to clock in under 10 seconds 7km from the finish line, all under the impetus from the third big favorite of the day: Miguel Angel Lopez.

While the red jersey group was in the lead of the race, Richard Carapaz made a final attack to secure a third victory in this Tour of Spain.

A decisive effort since Thymen Arensman will attempt an ambush in the last meters but the Ecuadorian will resist it.

Remco Evenepoel fails about twenty seconds from a third victory in this Vuelta but the main thing is elsewhere for the Belgian.