La Vuelta a España Stage 20, 175.8km in distance from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla, was another long day in the mountains for Carlos Verona. The Spanish rider again committed to the breakaway, which eventually became a group of 36 riders, with the solo stage winner coming out of that group.
Verona finished 6th, after continuing to fight for a minor place in a stage featuring four category 1 climbs.
Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won the stage after a 112km solo attack. Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) was 2nd, and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC Racing Team) was 3rd. They crossed a little more than a minute down on Plaza.
Meanwhile, the penultimate stage became the decisive one for the overall classification. Fabio Aru (Astana) snatched the red jersey from Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) on the second-to-last climb, with the help of his Astana teammates. Dumoulin tried to chase, but was isolated against Astana and Katusha riders pushing the tempo in the next kilometers. Aru goes into the final stage with a 1'17" gap over Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and 1'29" over Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo). Dumoulin fell to 6th in the overall.
Etixx - Quick-Step rider Gianluca Brambilla, meanwhile, confirmed a 13th place in the overall classification by finishing 32nd in the stage, two seconds ahead of the Dumoulin group.
La Vuelta concludes with a 98.8km Stage 21, from Alcalá Alcalá de Henares to Madrid, on Sunday.
