Eddie Dunbar won his second stage of the 2024 Vuelta a España after attacking on the final climb of Picon Blanco, while the GC riders were not particularly interested in going for the stage win, with Carlos Rodriguez losing 5 minutes.
Stage 20 was the last mountain stage of the 2024 La Vuelta. However, it did not deliver significant gaps, as creating separation or launching a long-range attack on 6% climbs is difficult, despite the considerable amount of climbing. It was still one of the hardest climbing stages in recent years, with Urko Berrade expending 4,309 kilojoules over 4 hours and 9 minutes at 15.76 kj/kg/h before reaching Picon Blanco. The biggest surprise of the day occurred with 34 km to go when Carlos Rodriguez and Sepp Kuss missed the split on the 6% climb of Los Tornos and were distanced, losing several minutes on the stage. Mattias Skjelmose and other riders initially missed the move as well but eventually caught up with Mikel Landa, Primož Roglič, and other GC riders.
Pavel Sivakov attacked with 30 km to go, gaining a small advantage before the final climb. On Picon Blanco, the early part of the climb did not see much action. However, Eddie Dunbar attacked with 5 km remaining, opened up a gap, caught Sivakov, and eventually won his second stage in this year’s La Vuelta. In the GC group, Richard Carapaz and Enric Mas launched attacks, while Roglič and Ben O’Connor did not respond to every acceleration, choosing to ride at their own tempo instead. The overall GC standings remained largely unchanged, except for Carlos Rodriguez, who lost more than 5 minutes and dropped to 10th position.
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There were no exceptionally high watt outputs, mainly due to fatigue, and more crucially, because none of the GC riders fully committed. Eddie Dunbar, despite being outside the top 10 in the GC, pushed 6.50 ᵉW/Kg for 24 minutes and 53 seconds, achieving his career-best performance. Dunbar also set a new Picon Blanco climbing record. Mas, Roglič, Carapaz, Berrade, O’Connor, Gaudu, and Landa averaged between 6.30 and 6.37 ᵉW/Kg. It was likely O’Connor’s best overall performance in this La Vuelta from the GC group. Berrade, who had already won a stage from a breakaway, finishing 5th against elite climbers, might have been an even more impressive achievement after such a tough and gruelling stage.
Dunbar moved up to 11th in the GC, having already won a breakaway stage earlier in the race. Like many riders, he has shown significant improvement in 2024 and has been in incredible shape throughout this Vuelta compared to any other race in his career. While Picon Blanco may have been slightly less impressive on an SLP x time graph than Moncalvillo the previous day (where Dunbar finished 7th), the extreme fatigue leading into the final climb made Picon Blanco all the more challenging.