VUELTA A ESPAñA STAGE 21 LIVE - GC RIDERS HIT THE COURSE IN MADRID TIME TRIAL FINALE

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the final stage of the Vuelta. 

What a race it's been, and it ends this evening with an individual time trial around the Spanish capital of Madrid. 

The first rider down the start ramp today will be Tim Naberman (DSM-Firmenich PostNL), at 16:30 local time (CET) - so that's just over half an hour from now. The last will be the red jersey, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) at 19:04, with the Slovenian expected to seal a record-equalling fourth overall Vuelta title. 

The riders will be setting off in reverse order of the general classification, separated by intervals of one minute down to the top 20, who'll set off two minutes apart. We have specialists such as Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike) at 16:46, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) at 17:42, Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) at 17:52, and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) at 18:06. But otherwise it's all eyes on the very back end of the list for the general classification action. 

Anyway, for the full running order, here's the link you need.

Vuelta a España stage 21 time trial start times

Here's the route - a flat and largely uncomplicated journey from the northern outskirts into the capital. They'll go up and down the Castellana, which is Madrid's answer to the Champs Elysées and usually hosts - similarly to the finale of the Tour de France - multiple laps in a road race format before a final sprint. This time, however, the riders will be on their own and they'll turn off the Castellana at the Plaza de Cibeles - where the podium ceremony takes place and where Spanish national teams celebrated any international trophies - and head up towards the finish line on the Gran Vía. 

In terms of GC jeopardy, Roglič enjoys a solid buffer of 2:02 over Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R), 2:11 over Enric Mas (Movistar) and 3:00 over Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). The Slovenian is, though, a far superior time trial list than any of them, so this would appear to be a case of signing and sealing the red jersey. There has been sickness in the Red Bull camp, which might throw in a hint of intrigue, but otherwise it would be a monumental surprise not to see Roglič collecting his fourth Vuelta trophy later on. 

The battle for the podium is more finely poised, with just nine seconds separating O'Connor and Mas. The Australian has produced the better TTs of late so will be hopeful of hanging onto runner-up spot but it could be close. Carapaz looks too far back and not good enough against the clock to bring the podium back into play, while just behind, the fifth place of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) is under huge threat from the white jersey Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) given the gulf between their time trialling abilities.  

For the full standings and a recap of yesterday's action, now's the time to catch up on our stage 20 report & results. 

Just a couple of minutes away from the start of the stage now.

We're off

Naberman rolls down the ramp to get this final time trial underway.

This is the start at the 'Distrito Telefónica', which is the headquarters for the Spanish telecoms giant, Telefónica, which owns Movistar, the title sponsor of Spain's leading team. 

Edoardo Affini has just started his ride. The Italian is a TT specialist who was fifth in the time trial on the opening day of this Vuelta.

We have two intermediate checkpoints, the first after 7.9km and the second after 16.8km, roughly dividing the course into thirds. 

As it stands, Enzo Leijnse (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) is the fastest man to the second checkpoint but Affini and Kasepr Asgreen (T-Rex QuickStep) have just gone faster at the first. 

We didn't catch it but Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) was right up there at the first checkpoint but miles off it at the second - going from 15 seconds up on Leijnse to two minutes down, so he must have had some sort of problem. 

That said, Guernalec is first to the finish line, catching not only our first starter Naberman but also Bahrain Victorious' Kamil Gradek. Some timing anomalies there, perhaps.

Yep, Guernalec's time at the second checkpoint has now been revised and listed as 19:31 - two and a half minutes quicker than what he was originally credited with. 

27:43 was our first finishing time from Guernalec, who was always likely to post a strong early time. Let's see how it stacks up against the likes of Affini, Asgreen, and Campenaerts who are all out on course right now. 

Affini 12 seconds up on Guernalec at the second checkpoint, and 14 seconds up on Asgreen as the Dane comes through soon after.

Asgreen finishes nine seconds down on Guernalec's time but Affini looks to be heading into the hotseat as he enters the final kilometre himself.

New leader: Edoardo Affini (Visma-Lease a Bike)

The Italian rouleur stops the clock on 27:34 - that's nine seconds up on Guernalec.

Affini has done that on double disc wheels, a tactic that caught the headlines courtesy of his teammate Wout van Aert at the Olympics. There were some shaky moments early on, with the discs usually catching a lot of wind, but the conditions must have been deemed calm enough to warrant the risk and provide a performance benefit. No Van Aert today, after his unfortunate crash earlier this week. 

Campenaerts is on a tear - four seconds up on Affini at the second checkpoint.

Campenaearts comes into the final kilometre and he has plenty of time to play with here... what's it going to be...?

27:22 - best so far

New leader: Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny)

The Belgian's time of 27:22.94 is 12 seconds quicker than Affini's. 

Mathis Le Berre (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) misses his start time as he fiddles with an apparent mechanical problem on the start ramp.

Here's our clubhouse leader, Campenaerts, as he started his ride a little while ago.

And here's the green jersey Kaden Groves, who has just finished his ride to seal the green jersey as the points classification winner. 12 months ago he was winning an absolute thriller in a crazy final-day break with Ganna and Evenepoel but he'll be happy to cap a Vuelta in which he has repeated last year's haul of three stage wins and the green jersey.

French champion Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) has just got underway and is one to watch, while the stage 1 TT surprise package, Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek) is just around the corner.

We might be getting some leaderboard movement, as no fewer than four riders have recently gone quicker than Campenaerts through checkpoint 1.

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) - 8:46

Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) - 8:47

Bruno Armirail (Decathlon-AG2R) - 8:49

Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) - 8:54

Jay Vine, who grabbed the polka-dot jersey from his teammate Marc Soler yesterday when they were both in the breakaway, starts his ride in what has been a remarkable Vuelta given the injuries he sustained in April. Fellow UAE man Brandon McNulty is about to start his ride, and has to be counted among the favourites given he won the opening day TT. 

Vacek now takes the top spot at the first checkpoint - six seconds up on Schmid (and 14 seconds quicker than clubhouse leader Campenaerts)

Schmid has reached the second checkpoint in first place, 10 seconds up on Campenaerts. Armirail slots in between them at four seconds. Oliveira has slipped a little.

Harry Sweeny (EF) hits the finish line with the second best time so far - eight seconds down on Campenaerts.

Baroncini is fastest at the second split, so we should be in for an interesting few minutes with a re-shuffle at the top of the main leaderboard.

New leader

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) comes to the finish and he stops the clock eight seconds up on Campenaerts' time.

Vacek is a shade under a second up on Baroncini's benchmark at the second split. Brandon McNulty, meanwhile, is around 9 seconds down on Vacek at the first split.

Armirail comes home now but slots into fourth place after fading towards the end there. 

New leader

Filippo Baroncini (UAE Team Emirates) stops the clock a shade under 27:12, which is two seconds up on Schmid.

Only a few minutes until we see Vacek come home, who could be another new leader.

And now Swiss champion Stefan Küng, a true heavyweight of the time trial discipline, heads down the ramp. A real contender for the win today.

Isaac del Toro (UAE) almost false starts, so keen is he to get going. He hasn't set the world alight in the way certain points earlier in the season suggested he might, but then again he is only 20, and he did have COVID-19 during this race, so just to finish is a big feat and one that will stand him in good stead for the future. 

It's not to be for Vacek, who was first at the first two checkpoints but can only manage third at the finish, eight seconds down on Baroncini.

The live timings briefly flash up that Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) has taken the lead by more than 90 seconds, but that's clearly an error. It's been a quiet Grand Tour for the former Giro winner, but he has had a complicated first season with Lidl-Trek and will be hoping a successful completion of this Vuelta can help him finish the season strong and set him up for bigger things in 2025.

McNulty is slipping further - over a minute down at the second checkpoint and out of contention for a second TT win.

Küng is on one today. We saw him railing it through the early sweeping bends in ultra-aggressive fashion, and it has handed him an 18-second advantage at the first checkpoint. Watch this Swiss space.

Del Toro is also in the mix - in third at the first checkpoint, quicker than the clubhouse leader and his teammate Baroncini.

Robert Gesink (Visma-Lease a Bike) comes to the line. Not a contender for the stage or the GC but a rider who is turning his very last professional pedal strokes. This is the Dutchman's final race of a long and successful career, mostly spent as a high-class mountain domestique, and he waves to the crowd as he bows out of the sport.

McNulty comes to the line and his right overshoe is covered in blood. He has clearly had a crash which would explain his big time loss. 

Küng storming into Madrid!

He's 40 seconds up on the next-best time at the second checkpoint. Wow.

Here's Küng breaking the speed limit in Madrid.

New leader

Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) rips towards the line and he hasn't done much fading here, stopping the clock on 26:28, which is a full 43 seconds up on Baroncini, the previous leader.

10th place for Del Toro at the finish. He did fade. 

We're coming into the GC end of the field now and we're into the top 15 on GC, starting with Guillaume Martin (Cofidis). 

Red Bull team directors have played down any suggestions of lingering illness in the camp after yesterday's spate of abandons. Here was our story on the matter:

Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe confirm struck by ‘wave of illnesses’ at Vuelta a España

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) is off, rounding out what has been a subdued defence of the title he earned in dramatic fashion last year. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), too, hasn't had the GC performance he was hoping for but amid the bumps and bruises he won one of the biggest stages with one of the biggest rides we've seen all year, back with his long-ranger in the Sierra Nevada.

Here's the leader Stefan Küng speaking from the hotseat

"It's always hard to imagine what you're going to do in the race, but I knew it was going to be fast and would have to be a time below 27 [minutes].

"Primož is probably the biggest danger and luckily for me he has big advantage, so he doesn't need to push it to the absolute limit. I hope it's enough to win."

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) takes us into the final 10 starters on this time trial. The Spaniard sank down the standings with an off-day yesterday.

Mattia Cattaneo (T-Rex QuickStep) posts the second fastest time at the finish so far, even if it's a world away from Küng's time. The Italian appeared to cut a corner earlier in the race, although he did lose speed in doing so.

Cattaneo's leader, Mikel Landa, is next up, and is unlikely to shift from 8th place. 

Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is next off the ramp, the German set to cap a breakthrough season with a top-10 Grand Tour finish.

Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) takes to the course in the white skinsuit of the best young rider. He has over a minute in hand over Lipowitz so he'll surely seal white, and could also jump to fifth overall if he finds 30 seconds on David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ).

Gaudu gets going now. He has come into his own during this Vuelta after a couple of rough Grand Tour performances, but he is notoriously weak against the clock and it's hard to see him holding off Skjelmose here. 

Fourth-placed Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) is next up and it's hard to see him moving, with 49 seconds between him and the podium. We grabbed a word with him yesterday:

'I think I’m back' - Richard Carapaz celebrates return to GC battles at Vuelta a España

Into the top three we go, and Enric Mas (Movistar) sets off in search of a fourth Vuelta podium. In fact, he has been runner-up on all three of those occasions, and he can do the same here if he can find nine seconds on Ben O'Connor.

O'Connor gets going now, with first Grand Tour podium looking pretty secure. That was his aim at the start, even if he enjoyed a huge lead at one point and had a long stint in red. But he can't deny Roglič has been the stronger man. Can he hang on to second? He has thrown some strong time trials in the last 18 months, so he'll be confident. 

And now Roglič is on the ramp. He won the Vuelta in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and barring a huge twist of fate he should clinch a fourth in just under half an hour to join Roberto Heras at the top of the all-time Vuelta record title holder standings.

2024-09-08T17:06:17Z dg43tfdfdgfd