Chris Froome kept his comfortable lead over Italian Vincenzo Nibali ahead of Saturday’s decisive Spanish Vuelta stage up the challenging l’Angliru summit.
Froome avoided trouble in Friday’s 150-kilometre ride from Caso to Gijon, staying one minute, 37 seconds ahead of Nibali in the overall standings.
“For me it was about trying to save as much energy as possible for tomorrow and get through the day without much issues,” The British rider said. “So I’m happy to let the day behind us and focus on tomorrow. Angliru is going to be rude, but it’s an explosive and short stage, so we can expect fireworks from the start.
“Everybody is tired at this point of the race, but I feel good.”
Wilco Kelderman of the Netherlands remained third, more than two minutes behind Froome.
Thomas De Gendt of Belgium won the stage at the final sprint, crossing the line ahead of Jarlinson Pantano of Colombia and Ivan Garcia Cortina of Spain.
“I had to do the sprint of my life, just go full until the finish,” said the Belgian, who also won stages at the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.
Ottawa’s Michael Woods is in seventh place overall, 6:33 off the pace. He finished in a tie for 24th place in Friday’s stage.
Saturday will be the last competitive stage before riders parade into Madrid to end the three-week Grand Tour race on Sunday.
