(Reuters) – Belgian Remco Evenepoel looked poised to claim his maiden Vuelta e Espana title after successfully defending his overall lead on Saturday’s penultimate stage, which was won by Olympic champion Richard Carapaz with a brilliant solo effort.
Evenepoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl held an advantage in excess of two minutes over Enric Mas heading into stage 20 and faced little trouble in seeing out the day after his Spanish rival failed to close the gap despite finishing fifth.
The 181km ride from Moralzarzal to Puerto de Navacerrada, the last mountain stage in this year’s race, witnessed a close contest between Carapaz and Sergio Higuita on the final climb but it was the Ecuadorian who accelerated with 7km to go.
Team DSM’s Thymen Arensman took second while Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates crossed the line in third place.
The three-week race concludes on Sunday with a 96.7km journey from Las Rozas to Madrid.
(Reporting by Dhruv Munjal in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
