Britain's
Chris Froome will take a 97-second lead over Italy's Vincenzo Nibali into the
decisive 20th stage of the Vuelta a Espana.
Saturday's
117.5km route, which ends with a gruelling 13.2km climb up the Alto de
l'Angliru, precedes Sunday's processional stage to Madrid.
Belgium's
Thomas de Gendt won stage 19 in Gijon on Friday by reeling in Ivan Garcia
Cortina of Spain.
Garcia faded
to finish third, with Colombia's Jarlinson Pantano in second.
Team Sky's
Froome, 32, is aiming to become only the third man to win both the Tour de
France and Vuelta in the same year, and first to win the double since the
Spanish Grand Tour moved from April to August and September.
Apart from
shutting down a late attack by Spain's Alberto Contador, this stage was largely
a stalemate between Froome and his rivals, with the peloton content to roll in
12 minutes 15 seconds behind De Gendt.
The racing
will not be so sedate on Saturday, but if four-time Tour de France champion
Froome retains the red jersey at the end of the stage, he will win his first
Vuelta title - convention dictating he will not be attacked on the final day.
"It was
about trying to save as much energy as possible for Saturday and get through
the day without many issues, so I'm happy to get the day behind us and focus on
stage 20," said Froome.
"The
Angliru is going to be rude, but it's an explosive and short stage, so we can
expect fireworks from the start.
"There's
some tough climbs before the Angliru, everybody is tired at this point of the
race, but I feel good."
A summit
finish on the Angliru is among cycling's biggest challenges. Bradley Wiggins
saw his bid for the Vuelta title scuppered there in 2011 when he lost
significant time to stage winner Juan Jose Cobo, who held on for overall
victory ahead of Froome - his first of three second places in this event.
A group of
19 riders broke clear shortly after the start of the 149.7km route from Caso,
Parque Natural de Redes and were soon joined by a nine-man chasing group.
It was no
surprise to see De Gendt there - the Lotto-Soudal rider having spent almost the
entire Tour de France off the front in breaks, only to miss out on a stage win
and, to his chagrin, the overall combativity award.
With 35km to
go, 21-year-old Garcia Cortina went solo, establishing a lead of one minute
before he was joined by France's Romain Bardet over the summit of the final
climb.
Ireland's
Nicolas Roche and Slovenia's Matej Mohoric joined the leading pair and looked
set to contest the finish, only for a superb effort by Luxembourg's Bob Jungels
to bring back a group of five chasers, including De Gendt.
Garcia
Cortina kicked first in the final 500 metres, looking to become Spain's first
stage winner of this Vuelta in his home town of Gijon, but could not hold off
De Gendt, who has now won a stage in all three Grand Tours.
"I've
had a good season but now my career is almost complete," De Gendt told
Eurosport.
"The
Bahrain-Merida rider [Ivan Garcia Cortina] was really strong in the sprint but
I was on the wheel and, when he launched, I went full and did the sprint of my
life."
Stage 19
result
1. Thomas de
Gendt (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) 3hrs 35mins 46secs
2. Jarlinson
Pantano (Col/Trek-Segafredo) Same time
3. Ivan
Garcia Cortina (Spa/Bahrain-Merida)
4. Rui Costa
(Por/UAE Team Emirates)
5. Floris de
Tier (Bel/Team LottoNL-Jumbo)
6. Bob
Jungels (Lux/Quick-Step Floors)
7. Romain
Bardet (Fra/AG2R Ka Mondiale)
8. Nicolas
Roche (Ire/BMC Racing Team)
9. Daniel
Navarro (Spa/Cofidis)
10. Koen
Bouwman (Ned/Team LottoNL-Jumbo) +45secs
General
classification
1. Chris
Froome (GB/Team Sky) 75hrs 51mins 51secs
2. Vincenzo
Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +1mins 37secs
3. Wilco
Kelderman (Ned/Team Sunweb) +2min 17secs
4. Ilnur
Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) +2mins 29secs
5. Alberto
Contador (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) +3mins 34secs
6. Miguel
Angel Lopez (Col/Astana Pro Team) +5mins 16secs
7. Michael
Woods (Can/Cannondale-Drapac) +6mins 33secs
8. Fabio Aru
(Ita/Astana Pro Team) Same time
9. Wout
Poels (Ned/Team Sky) +6mins 47secs
10. Steven
Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL-Jumbo) +10min 26secs
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