Vuelta Stage 20: Alberto Contador rides away, poised to seal hat-trick

Alberto Contador of Tinkoff-Saxo is poised to win rhe Vuelta  Espana for the third time after riding away from Team Sky's Chris Froome on the climb to Puerto de Ancares to win this afternoon's penultimate stage of the race by 16 seconds.

The punishing ascent in Galicia that concluded the 185.7km stage from Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil saw a highly select group form, comprising the five riders who occupied the top positions in the overall standings this morning.

An attack from Joaquin Rodriguez of Katusha breifly put Movistar's Alejandro Valverde's podium spot under threat, but the latter recovered to finish third.

Contador now leads Froome by 1 minute 37 seconds with just a short time trial, 9.7km, to come tomorrow in Santiago de Compostela.

Reactionh

Tinkoff-Saxo sports director Steven De Jongh, who previously worked at Team Sky, said: “We knew that Sky wanted to control things to stir things up and to try to shake Alberto. However, everyone else but Alberto was dropped and I think Alberto played his cards excellently. He never lost his cool and had the situation totally under control.

"On the final kilometre, he went for the stage win and in one fierce attack, he quickly created the gap and took a beautiful victory consolidating his lead. Of course, the race isn’t won just yet. There’s a time trial tomorrow and even though it’s short, you can’t rule out accidents. Now, we’re waiting for the weather report and we’re going out tomorrow morning to check out the technical spots on the course."