Roglic poised to win fourth Vuelta, Dunbar wins stage 20

Eddie Dunbar clung on to take his second stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday while Primoz Roglic cemented his grip on first even as a "wave of sickness" forced three teammates out.

After finishing third on Picon Blanco, the Slovenian leads by 2 minutes and 2 seconds with just Sunday's time trial to come.

Dunbar, a 28-year-old Irishman, had collected his first Grand Tour stage win nine days earlier.

🥵 The battle for La Roja and the podium was tough. Relive the stage in 1'!

🥵 La batalla por La Roja y el podio ha sido muy dura.. ¡Revive la etapa en 1'!#LaVuelta24 | @gorouvy pic.twitter.com/TJErab0m2H
— La Vuelta (@lavuelta) September 7, 2024

"Moments like this don't come around too often," Dunbar said at the line.

"I've had two of them in the last two weeks. I'm just looking forward to sharing these moments and celebrating them with friends and family."

Spaniard Enric Mas chased Dunbar across the line, seven seconds back after the 172km run from Villarcayo.

Ben O'Connor, who surrendered his race lead the day before, fought hard to protect his second place crossing the line in sixth, 14 seconds behind Dunbar.

The Australian did enough to end the day nine seconds ahead of Mas.

Roglic added eight seconds to his lead over O'Connor while losing three ailing Red-Bull-Bora-hansgrohe teammates.

"The guys were not feeling their best from the morning on, there's something going around," Roglic said. "Luckily for me, I'm still feeling fine."

'WAVE OF ILLNESS'

Dani Martinez and Patrick Gamper abandoned while Nico Denz made the finish but after the cut off time and was eliminated. Aleksander Vlasov rolled in 34 minutes after Dunbar and survived to ride the final day.

"A wave of illness has swept over us overnight," said Bora on their web site.

"We are currently investigating whether food poisoning or any other reason is the cause. Several staff members have been affected and have had to pull out of today's stage. Also, Nico, Gampi, Dani and Aleks were unwell during the stage."

Roglic said he was not taking a fourth Vuelta title for granted ahead of Sunday's 24.6km race against the clock.

"We just have to finish it off. It's that simple," Roglic said.

Dunbar, who rides for Jayco Alula, had won in Padron on stage 11 by sprinting away from a breakaway group.

"This one feels sweeter," he said at Saturday's finish.

"I said to a few people after the stage win last week that it was not how I expected to win a Grand Tour stage. I always imagined winning at the top of a climb."

NEVER 👊🏼

GIVE 🥇

UP 🙌🏼

📸 @SprintCycling pic.twitter.com/mjY5g1RH5q
— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) September 7, 2024

This time, he broke away from the group of race leaders with five kilometres left on the final climb, caught escapee Pavel Sivakov with 3.5km left and then sped away with 2km to go.

He struggled to the line, looking over his shoulder at the heavyweight group closing in as they battled for second in the overall classification.

"I just felt good. I backed myself in that climb and paced myself well," Dunbar said.

"I rode the steep parts pretty hard and the flat bits pretty conservative to make sure I had enough in the tank."

"I've had good times and I've had bad times and it's all part of the process. There's going to be more ups and there's going to be more downs. That's just the way life is."

STAGE WINNERS

1. Eddie Dunbar (IRL) Team Jayco - AlUla 4:38:37

2. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team +7

3. Primož Roglic (SLO) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe +10

4. Richard Carapaz (ECU) EF Education - EasyPost +12

5. Urko Berrade (ESP) Equipo Kern Pharma +14

6. Ben O'Connor (AUS) Decathlon - AG2R - La Mondiale Team "

7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama - FDJ +21

8. Mikel Landa (ESP) Soudal - Quick-Step +23

9. Florian Lipowitz (GER) Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe +37

10. Mattias Skjelmose (DEN) Lidl - Trek "

11. Felix Gall (AUT) Decathlon - AG2R - La Mondiale Team +39