Vuelta KOM leader Buitrago admits Wout van Aert 'scared' him in late mountains battle

Santiago Buitrago is set to win the mountains classification at the Vuelta a España on Sunday, but the Bahrain Victorious rider would have liked to play a more prominent role in Stage 20. The Colombian still had Friday's nineteenth stage in his legs and was therefore forced to watch as Wout van Aert continued to collect points and apply pressure in the battle for the polka-dot jersey.

Van Aert managed something Buitrago could not do in Stage 20: get himself into the groups at the front of the race. The Visma | Lease a Bike rider was therefore able to collect another 22 mountain points during the day, although it was ultimately not enough to seriously threaten Buitrago's lead. And because Van Aert had another job waiting for him later in the stage, the Colombian could eventually breathe a sigh of relief.

That job was to empty the tank for Sepp Kuss in the finale, helping the American climb six places and move into fifth overall. Van Aert therefore stopped collecting mountain points over the final two climbs. It left Buitrago with a 16-point advantage over the Belgian in the mountains classification, with the Colombian on 78 points and Van Aert finishing on 62.

"It was a gruelling day," Buitrago said afterwards in his flash interview with La Vuelta. The climber had been part of the breakaway the previous day and remained in contention for the Stage 19 victory all the way to the finish, and those efforts were still very much in his legs. Buitrago explained that the race had been blown apart almost immediately and that he had little idea how the stage would develop. By the finish, the Colombian was completely drained after what he described as an exceptionally hard and chaotic day.

Jakob Omrzel, sixth overall at the start of the day, also found himself in difficulty, prompting Buitrago to drop back and provide some assistance to his young Bahrain Victorious teammate. From that point on, all Buitrago could do was hope Van Aert would stop collecting points before the Belgian got too close. "I couldn't wait to reach the finish line," he admitted. Van Aert remained the only rider capable of taking the mountains jersey away from him, which was why Buitrago never considered his points advantage completely safe.

"Today, it actually scared me," Buitrago conceded. In the end, however, his concern proved unnecessary. There are no more mountain points available in Sunday's Stage 21, meaning the Colombian will take the Vuelta a España mountains classification ahead of Van Aert.