With several challenging climbs on this back-and-forth route, it's of course a crucial day for the GC. A few open battles and of course there's one that stands out:
will Lövkvist defend his minutes-gap on Berhane? And will Anacona bounce back from dropping off the podium?
The break of the day with 9 riders won't be much of a threat for KoM-leader Arredondo:
Well, actually Haga could have went for an attack, but he doesn't really contest those early mountain sprints!
And so it's just about the stage-win for the break, that leads by four minutes with now just 26km remaining. That's the penultimate climb for the peloton, where we see the first attacks about 30km before finish:
Anacona and Antón quickly jumps behind!
Berhane and Lövkvist quickly reacts!
Tvetcov, Panayotov, Augustyn and Kononenko on the move, too!
There's a group of 9 riders build then - swallowing Arredondo and Barton, who attacked for minor mountain points!
We notice that Lövkvist got dropped by group Berhane/Antón/Anacona!
The race-leader finds himself about two minutes behind, with his teammates now trying to pull this strong group back!
Penasa joined those guys in the meantime, while also Montenegro is in there (he attacked for mountain points, too)...
Swedbank was pushing hard on the next climb and group Berhane struggled to hold on to it's gap! With now 10km to go, those in this group launch another attack, just when the bunch with Lövkvist almost caught up!
Penasa, Antón, Berhane as the first to go, also Augustyn and Anacona are on the move again!
And it's again nine riders opening up a notable gap ongroup Lövkvist, which is quickly 35" behind:
Wow, that's really some pressure for Lövkvist, who seems to struggle today! Also Reis, Popovych and Zardini are with him, but the GC-leader is 45" behind group Berhane with now 7km remaining!
At the very front, the early break will fight for line honours: Stetina and Vinhas dropped the other escapees, while Richardson tried to hang on.. but it's either Stetina or Vinhas, as they are already inside the final km now..
Stetina takes it ahead of Vinhas!
Richardson 3rd with 16 seconds lost.. Samoilev 4th and a next group with Haga, Murillo and Lopez Garcia finishes about a minute later!
Less than 2.5km to go for the first group of favorites, where Tvetcov attacked! The 7th in the GC looks strong again!
Lövkvist with some support from Eltink and Bjelkmark now: this group (49 riders) is already 1'20" behind group Berhane though! That's definitely a chance for the Eritrean to take over the race-lead!
Final km and the gap is at 1'18" now! Let's remember:
Berhane is 2nd in the GC with + 1'23" in Lövkvist! His group is still together, while Tvetcov opened up a notable gap..
+ 3'50" for Tvetcov
Berhane enters the final corner and certainly senses his chance for the lead here.. he powers to the line:
+ 4'09" for group Berhane, Antón, Anacona
Schuler, Panayotov, Penasa, Kononenko, Augustyn, Quintana and also Nicácio finish within the same time..
But where is the race-leader?
Here he comes, looking exhausted and being pulled by Eltink:
+ 5'55" for group Lövkvist, Reis, Popovych!
What a drama for Swedbank...
Berhane made it possible! The Eritrean takes over the GC-lead by 23 seconds on Lövkvist! The Swede apparently hadn't the best legs today, but of course credits to Berhane for delivering so well today.
Antón defending the final podium spot against Anacona, while Tvetcov moves up to 6th behind Panayotov and ahead of Popovych, Augustyn and Reis, who dropped a few places here! Kononenko rounding up the Top-10, while Vinhas moves up to 15th thanks to his efforts today!
All riders inside the time limit, so Cabrera has another chance for a stage-win tomorrow. The points-competition is his and also Arredondo can already celebrate his KoM-victory (bar any drama in the final stage that is).
Results Stage 20/ *results didn't export, so that's not the full results here
