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Collada de la Gallina - Britain's Simon Yates all but secured the Tour of Spain overall title on Saturday ahead of the final day 'parade' to Madrid, meaning British riders will have won all three of cycling's Grand Tours this season.
The astonishing victory for the 26-year-old Mitchelton-Scott team rider is a form of redemption after he led the Giro d'Italia for two weeks in May, only to lose over 40 minutes on the 19th stage - vowing however to "come back stronger".
His success follows that of Sky's Chris Froome in the Tour of Italy in May while another member of the Sky team Geraint Thomas won the Tour de France in July.
Interviewed after the race Yates said his virtually secured victory had not sunk in.
"I truly didn't believe I could pull it off, especially after what happened at the Giro," he said.
"I was nervous at the beginning of the stage you just never know what can happen, a very ferocious day," he said.
"But the team was fantastic, I had support until the very last moment with Adam," he said of his twin brother who rides for the same team.
"British cycling has come a long way in ten years," Yates told AFP.
"And I hope to continue this trend."
Yates was third on the day in a short but mountainous run behind 20th stage winner Quick Step's 23-year-old Enric Mas and Astana rider Miguel Angel Lopez, just 24, who climbed onto the virtual podium in second and third place 1min 46sec and 2min 04sec off the Briton's pace.
"I could see them up ahead the whole time coming up the final kilometres, but I couldn't get across the gap, so well done to them," Yates told Eurosport after coming 23 seconds behind them on the stage.
The men who had been second and third overnight Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde and Dutchman Steven Kruijswijk, both struggled on the final climb and fell to fifth and fourth respectively.
The disappointment in Spain at Valverde dropping from second to finish off the podium on what could be his final chance, was made up for with the euphoria at the emergence of Mas, who was fourth in the Tour de Suisse this year.
"Of course it's painful to drop from the podium at the last hurdle," Valverde admitted.
"But when you give everything you can give you can't ask more, my rivals were stronger," he said.
Barring disaster in Madrid valverde will win the green points jesrey and with no hills on Sunday's stage Lotto Soudal rider Thomas De Gendt will take the polka dot climbers title.
French climber Thibaut Pinot, who won two mountain stages on this Vuelta, came sixth, Colombia's Rigoberto Uran seventh and Movistar man Nairo Quintana, the pre-race favourite, finished eighth.
Yates took the overall lead on the Vuelta from the ninth stage, and while he gave it up for two days to Spanish outsider Jesus Herrada, was always in pole position to win from that time.
Overall standings after the 20th stage of the Tour of Spain on Saturday a 97.3km ride from Les Escaldes to Collada de la Gallina:
1. Simon Yates (GBR/Mitchelton) 79hrs 44mins 30sec
2. Enric Mas (ESP/QST) at 1min 46sec.
3. Miguel ngel Lpez (COL/AST) 2:04.
4. Steven Kruijswijk (NED/LNL) 2:54.
5. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 4:28.
6. Thibaut Pinot (FRA/FDJ) 5:57.
7. Rigoberto Uran (COL/EFD) 6:07.
8. Nairo Quintana (COL/MOV) 6:51.
9. Jon Izagirre (ESP/BAH) 11:09.
10. Wilco Kelderman (NED/SUN) 11:11.
11. Tony Gallopin (FRA/ALM) 12:10.
12. Emanuel Buchmann (GER/BOR) 14:06.
13. Rafal Majka (POL/BOR) 17:57.
14. Rudy Molard (FRA/FDJ) 25:40.
15. David De la Cruz (ESP/SKY) 27:38.
16. Gianluca Brambilla (ITA/TRE) 30:00.
17. Mikel Bizkarra (ESP/EUS) 35:46.
18. Richard Carapaz (ECU/MOV) 39:53.
19. Jack Haig (AUS/MIT) 45:32.
20. Ilnur Zakarin (RUS/KAT) 51:17.
21. Davide Formolo (ITA/BOR) 56:49.
22. Jos Herrada Lopez (ESP/COF) 57:15.
23. Fabio Aru (ITA/EAU) 1 h 03:07.
24. Benjamin King (USA/DDT) 1 h 03:40.
25. Cristin Rodrguez (ESP/CJR) 1 h 06:26.
26. Hubert Dupont (FRA/ALM) 1 h 11:04.
27. Peio Bilbao (ESP/AST) 1 h 12:49.
28. Sergio Henao (COL/SKY) 1 h 13:07.
29. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/BAH) 1 h 14:48.
30. Bauke Mollema (NED/TRE) 1 h 16:27.
31. Merhawi Kudus (ERI/DDT) 1 h 19:54.
32. Jai Hindley (AUS/SUN) 1 h 21:10.
33. Dylan Teuns (BEL/BMC) 1 h 22:06.
34. Michael Woods (CAN/EFD) 1 h 22:33.
35. George Bennett (NZL/LNL) 1 h 23:05.
36. Ben Gastauer (LUX/ALM) 1 h 28:52.
37. Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (ERI/DDT) 1 h 30:43.
38. Daniel Moreno (ESP/EFD) 1 h 32:59.
39. Edward Ravasi (ITA/EAU) 1 h 34:57.
40. Nicolas Roche (IRL/BMC) 1 h 36:40.
41. Michal Kwiatkowski (POL/SKY) 1 h 42:55.
42. Floris De Tier (BEL/LNL) 1 h 42:58.
43. Maxime Monfort (BEL/LOT) 1 h 43:23.
44. Igor Anton (ESP/DDT) 1 h 52:13.
45. Adam Yates (GBR/MIT) 1 h 53:29.
46. Simon Clarke (AUS/EFD) 1 h 55:01.
47. Luis Mas (ESP/CJR) 1 h 56:06.
48. Davide Villella (ITA/AST) 1 h 56:46.
49. Sergio Pardilla (ESP/CJR) 1 h 57:22.
50. Franco Pellizotti (ITA/BAH) 1 h 57:38.
51. scar Rodrguez (ESP/EUS) 1 h 58:53.
52. Andrej Zeits (KAZ/AST) 2 h 01:13.
53. Pavel Kochetkov (RUS/KAT) 2 h 01:36.
54. Stphane Rossetto (FRA/COF) 2 h 01:43.
55. Pierre Rolland (FRA/EFD) 2 h 03:54.
56. Reto Hollenstein (SUI/KAT) 2 h 04:03.
57. Louis Meintjies (RSA/DDT) 2 h 04:28.
58. Jos Herrada (ESP/COF) 2 h 05:23.
59. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/BAH) 2 h 08:35.
60. Valerio Conti (ITA/EAU) 2 h 09:59.
61. Fabio Felline (ITA/TRE) 2 h 10:13.
62. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR/SKY) 2 h 13:56.
63. Omar Fraile (ESP/AST) 2 h 14:33.
64. Dario Cataldo (ITA/AST) 2 h 18:54.
65. Sepp Kuss (USA/LNL) 2 h 19:41.
66. Brent Bookwalter (USA/BMC) 2 h 21:15.
67. Thomas De Gendt (BEL/LOT) 2 h 21:30.
68. Eduard Prades (ESP/EUS) 2 h 24:10.
69. Winner Anacona (COL/MOV) 2 h 25:25.
70. Damien Howson (AUS/MIT) 2 h 29:16.
71. Nlson Oliveira (POR/MOV) 2 h 29:30.
72. Nans Peters (FRA/ALM) 2 h 30:11.
73. Sander Armee (BEL/LOT) 2 h 30:18.
74. Jan Hirt (CZE/AST) 2 h 35:09.
75. Alessandro De Marchi (ITA/BMC) 2 h 39:34.
76. Nicholas Nick Sch (AUS/CJR) 2 h 39:38.
77. Lo Vincent (FRA/FDJ) 2 h 43:31.
78. Aritz Bages (ESP/EUS) 2 h 45:48.
79. Tiago Machado (POR/KAT) 2 h 48:01.
80. Martijn Tusveld (NED/SUN) 2 h 49:12.
81. Joey Rosskopf (USA/BMC) 2 h 51:48.
82. Ryan Gibbons (RSA/DDT) 2 h 55:03.
83. Richie Porte (AUS/BMC) 2 h 56:23.
84. Jos Mendes (POR/BBH) 2 h 57:10.
85. Hctor Sez (ESP/EUS) 2 h 57:30.
86. scar Cabedo (ESP/BBH) 2 h 57:47.
87. Pieter Serry (BEL/QST) 2 h 58:59.
88. Tom Van Asbroeck (BEL/EFD) 2 h 59:30.
89. Jorge Cubero (ESP/BBH) 3 h 03:35.
90. Alexandre Geniez (FRA/ALM) 3 h 04:23.
91. Jay McCarthy (AUS/BOR) 3 h 05:02.
92. Imanol Erviti (ESP/MOV) 3 h 10:45.
93. Audrey Amador (CRC/MOV) 3 h 10:46.
94. Dries Devenyns (BEL/QST) 3 h 13:33.
95. Tiesj Benoot (BEL/LOT) 3 h 13:42.
96. Salvatore Puccio (ITA/SKY) 3 h 15:09.
97. Mickal Cherel (FRA/ALM) 3 h 21:35.
98. Jess Ezquerra (ESP/BBH) 3 h 27:49.
99. Ivn Garca (ESP/BAH) 3 h 28:51.
100. Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP/SKY) 3 h 30:00.
101. Jetse Bol (NED/BBH) 3 h 35:15.
102. Victor Campenaerts (BEL/LOT) 3 h 43:36.
103. Mikel Iturria (ESP/EUS) 3 h 43:59.
104. Nikita Stalnov (KAZ/AST) 3 h 46:32.
105. Jhonatan Restrepo (COL/KAT) 3 h 47:21.
106. Luis ngel Mat (ESP/COF) 3 h 55:56.
107. Vegard Laengen (NOR/EAU) 3 h 56:34.
108. Alex Aranburu (ESP/CJR) 3 h 56:53.
109. Mike Teunissen (NED/SUN) 3 h 58:01.
110. Mathias Le Turnier (FRA/COF) 3 h 59:46.
111. Francisco Ventoso (ESP/BMC) 4 h 02:14.
112. Mickael Delage (FRA/FDJ) 4 h 02:45.
113. Sven Erik Bystrm (NOR/EAU) 4 h 05:55.
114. Tosh Van der Sande (BEL/LOT) 4 h 08:34.
115. Johannes Frhlinger (GER/SUN) 4 h 11:01.
116. Garikoitz Bravo (ESP/EUS) 4 h 11:45.
117. Michael Storer (AUS/SUN) 4 h 12:04.
118. Michael Albasini (SUI/MIT) 4 h 15:40.
119. Peter Sagan (SVK/BOR) 4 h 16:11.
120. Antonio Molina (ESP/CJR) 4 h 18:48.
121. Benjamin Thomas (FRA/FDJ) 4 h 20:35.
122. Johann Van Zyl (RSA/DDT) 4 h 21:56.
123. Jonathan Lastra (ESP/CJR) 4 h 26:51.
124. Stephen Cummings (GBR/DDT) 4 h 27:14.
125. Ian Boswell (USA/KAT) 4 h 27:33.
126. Antoine Duchesne (CAN/FDJ) 4 h 28:00.
127. Matteo Trentin (ITA/MIT) 4 h 28:10.
128. Sbastian Langeveld (NED/EFD) 4 h 30:52.
129. Pablo Torres (ESP/BBH) 4 h 34:03.
130. Markel Irizar (ESP/TRE) 4 h 37:11.
131. Marc Sarreau (FRA/FDJ) 4 h 38:36.
132. Danny van Poppel (NED/LNL) 4 h 38:47.
133. Daniele Bennati (ITA/MOV) 4 h 45:32.
134. Kasper Asgreen (DEN/QST) 4 h 47:31.
135. Kiel Reijnen (USA/TRE) 4 h 49:31.
136. Bertjan Lindeman (NED/LNL) 4 h 51:28.
137. Tom Leezer (NED/LNL) 4 h 52:52.
138. Diego Rubio (ESP/BBH) 4 h 52:54.
139. Kenneth Vanbilsen (BEL/COF) 4 h 53:07.
140. Giacomo Nizzolo (ITA/TRE) 4 h 54:33.
141. Luka Mezgec (SLO/MIT) 4 h 55:25.
142. Jelle Wallays (BEL/LOT) 4 h 56:02.
143. Luka Pibernik (SLO/BAH) 4 h 56:19.
144. Loc Chetout (FRA/COF) 4 h 56:27.
145. Jon Aberasturi (ESP/EUS) 5 h 01:45.
146. Elia Viviani (ITA/QST) 5 h 01:47.
147. Simone Consonni (ITA/EAU) 5 h 02:02.
148. Michael Morkov (DEN/QST) 5 h 07:14.
149. Marcus Burghardt (GER/BOR) 5 h 08:49.
150. Mitch Docker (AUS/EFD) 5 h 09:16.
151. Michael Schwarzmann (GER/BOR) 5 h 10:42.
152. Fabio Sabatini (ITA/QST) 5 h 13:46.
153. Lars Boom (NED/LNL) 5 h 18:48.
154. Nelson Soto (COL/CJR) 5 h 20:28.
155. Alexander Edmondson (AUS/MIT) 5 h 24:24.
156. Max Walscheid (GER/SUN) 5 h 25:57.
157. Julien Duval (FRA/ALM) 5 h 40:57.
158. Matthias Brandle (AUT/TRE) 5 h 51:07.
