After clashes in San Sebastian and the opening stage, Ciccone and Del Toro share the glory in Burgos on a grueling climb

The final stage of the five-day Spanish race started with an interesting situation in the GC. Leo Bisiaux, the 20-year-old top talent from Decathlon AG2R, started with a 20-second lead over Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). Isaac del Toro (UAE Emirates-XRG) found himself in third place, 26 seconds behind.

Giulio Ciccone (Lidl-Trek) lost an extra minute in his crash on day one, but that did not prevent his Lidl-Trek team from taking control from the very start. With Tim Declercq in their ranks, the German-American team also had someone who was used to such situations.

After a crash in the opening phase, which included Max van der Meulen on behalf of Bahrain Victorious, five riders broke away. Nico Denz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) and Dutchman Matthijs Paasschens (Bahrain Victorious) from the WorldTour, joined by pro-continental riders Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Samuele Zoccarato (Polti-VisitMalta), and Carlos Garcia Pierna from Burgos-BH.

Led by Denz, this group of five pushed hard, but with the Alto de Rozavientos (3.3 kilometers at 9.7 percent) still to come, there was a steep climb ahead. It became clear why Denz was pushing so hard: his teammate Jai Hindley attacked from the peloton and wanted to make the move to the front, but UAE did not allow it. And so that climb came to nothing, except for the breakaway of XDS-Astana rider Wout Poels.

In the descent, Del Toro had a flat tire at a bad moment, which put him behind with thirteen kilometers to go. The riders at the front couldn't wait, of course, so it took a lot of effort for the Mexican to catch up with the main group just before the final climb.

Lidl-Trek was able to put men like Carlos Verona and Julien Bernard at the front, after which Ciccone launched his attack three kilometers from the finish. Del Toro joined the Italian, while leader Bisiaux was visibly struggling. The Italians and Mexicans, who had already teamed up in San Sebastian and the first stage, were thus once again on the road together.

Vuelta contenders such as Egan Bernal (INEOS), Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step), and Giulio Pellizzari (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) were unable to keep up with Ciccone and Del Toro. The Lidl-Trek rider had one clear mission with the stage win, while his UAE teammate seemed to have the overall victory within his grasp. A deal, perhaps?

It didn't come to that, because just after entering the final thousand meters, the Italian rode away from his opponent. Del Toro took the overall victory.