Denmark's Mads Pedersen claimed his third stage victory of the Vuelta a España in a thrilling sprint finish, while Remco Evenepoel held onto the overall lead in Talavera de la Reina.
Trek-Segafredo's Pedersen battled through 138.3 kilometres in 3 hours 19min 11sec and edged out British Bahrain Victorious rider Fred Wright and Belgium's Gianni Vermeersch of Alpecin-Deceuninck to complete a hat-trick of stage wins on this year's Vuelta.
A tribute was paid to Queen Elizabeth II, who died yesterday aged 96, prior to the start of the race, with British and Ineos Grenadiers riders coming to the front of the field.
American Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates, Ecuador's Jonathan Caicedo of EF Education-EasyPost and Spain's Ander Okamika of Burgos-BH started fast and formed a three-man breakaway within the first 10km.
Despite the breakaway building a lead of nearly four minutes, the peloton clawed its way back with 49km left.
In a sprint finish, following an unsuccessful attack by Australia's Miles Scotson of Groupama FDJ, Pedersen accelerated to victory.
The 26-year-old had not won a Grand Tour stage before this year, but now has triumphed thrice in Spain and also won a stage on the Tour de France.
🏁Etapa 19 | Stage 19 🙋🏻♂️🏆@Mads__Pedersen - @TrekSegafredo 🏆#LaVuelta22 pic.twitter.com/zNHworEnzf
"It was definitely really hard to control the bunch today but man, the team did so impressive," Pedersen, who has an unsurmountable lead in the points classification, said.
"Everybody was so dedicated and working really hard."
He added: "Three wins is of course super, super nice.
"Tomorrow we have to finish the day and then in Madrid we'll see how it goes, but I think no matter what we can be really happy with these three weeks in Spain."
Belgium's Evenepoel, representing Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, is closing in victory in the general classification with just two stages remaining.
He leads Movistar's Enric Mas and UAE Team Emirates' Juan Ayuso, who are both Spanish, by 2:07sec and 5:14, respectively.
Stage 20 is mountainous and will see riders travel from Moralzarzal to Puerto de Navacerrada across a 175.5km route tomorrow.
Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10
For nearly 15 years now, insidethegames.biz has been at the forefront of reporting fearlessly on what happens in the Olympic Movement. As the first website not to be placed behind a paywall, we have made news about the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and other major events more accessible than ever to everybody.
insidethegames.biz has established a global reputation for the excellence of its reporting and breadth of its coverage. For many of our readers from more than 200 countries and territories around the world the website is a vital part of their daily lives. The ping of our free daily email alert, sent every morning at 6.30am UK time 365 days a year, landing in their inbox, is as a familiar part of their day as their first cup of coffee.
Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since.
As the world begins to emerge from the COVID crisis, insidethegames.biz would like to invite you to help us on our journey by funding our independent journalism. Your vital support would mean we can continue to report so comprehensively on the Olympic Movement and the events that shape it. It would mean we can keep our website open for everyone. Last year, nearly 25 million people read insidethegames.biz, making us by far the biggest source of independent news on what is happening in world sport.
Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit.
The remainder of 2022 is not going to be any less busy, or less challenging. We had the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, where we sent a team of four reporters, and coming up are the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Summer World University and Asian Games in China, the World Games in Alabama and multiple World Championships. Plus, of course, there is the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.
Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10 - it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you.
Eliott is a junior reporter with insidethegames.biz. He graduated from New Bucks University in 2020 where he studied multimedia sports journalism. He worked as a freelancer while he completed his NCTJ qualification, writing for publications such The Football Pink and Last Word On Football.
Sporting memories of Queen Elizabeth II
When British skaters Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won the Olympic gold medal in ice dance at Sarajevo 1984 with 12 perfect 6.0s from every judge, for their interpretation of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, an important member of their team was singer-actor Michael Crawford. Crawford, who had played Frank Spencer in British sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and the title role in the musical The Phantom of the Opera, had become a mentor to the pair in 1981 and went on to help them create their Olympic routine. Crawford said he “taught them how to act". He was present with their trainer Betty Callaway at the ringside at Sarajevo as they created one of the most iconic moments in Olympic history.
Infinity Sports Travel - Ticketing Manager - London, United Kingdom
Infinity Sports Travel are working on numerous projects including the Rugby World Cup in France 2023. Formed in 2008, Infinity Sports Travel (IST) is a Global Brand with the greatest sporting events at its core, delivering industry leading events like nowhere else. It is a company that is passionate about offering high-quality service, value and competitive prices and making every favourite sporting event, a unique moment.This is a fantastic opportunity for an experienced ticketing professional to work on a landmark sporting event. We are seeking an experienced, proactive, driven and organised person for the role of Ticketing Manager. This position involves a high level of responsibility and previous experience in high volume major sporting events is essential. They will be responsible for ticket, cruise cabin and hotel room allocations and ticket distribution.
Fifty years ago, 11 Israeli athletes were killed after being taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September after entering the Athletes' Village at the Munich 1972 Olympics. The attack changed the course of Olympic security and funding after what was a monumentally and disastrously flawed security operation by the relevant German authorities, writes Mike Rowbottom.
Which of these sports would you most like to see added to the LA 2028 programme?
You have viewed over 50 articles in the last 12 months.
Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10
For nearly 15 years now, insidethegames.biz has been at the forefront of reporting fearlessly on what happens in the Olympic Movement. As the first website not to be placed behind a paywall, we have made news about the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and other major events more accessible than ever to everybody.
insidethegames.biz has established a global reputation for the excellence of its reporting and breadth of its coverage. For many of our readers from more than 200 countries and territories around the world the website is a vital part of their daily lives. The ping of our free daily email alert, sent every morning at 6.30am UK time 365 days a year, landing in their inbox, is as a familiar part of their day as their first cup of coffee.
Even during the worst times of the COVID-19 pandemic, insidethegames.biz maintained its high standard of reporting on all the news from around the globe on a daily basis. We were the first publication in the world to signal the threat that the Olympic Movement faced from the coronavirus and have provided unparalleled coverage of the pandemic since.
As the world begins to emerge from the COVID crisis, insidethegames.biz would like to invite you to help us on our journey by funding our independent journalism. Your vital support would mean we can continue to report so comprehensively on the Olympic Movement and the events that shape it. It would mean we can keep our website open for everyone. Last year, nearly 25 million people read insidethegames.biz, making us by far the biggest source of independent news on what is happening in world sport.
Every contribution, however big or small, will help maintain and improve our worldwide coverage in the year ahead. Our small and dedicated team were extremely busy last year covering the re-arranged Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, an unprecedented logistical challenge that stretched our tight resources to the limit.
The remainder of 2022 is not going to be any less busy, or less challenging. We had the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, where we sent a team of four reporters, and coming up are the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the Summer World University and Asian Games in China, the World Games in Alabama and multiple World Championships. Plus, of course, there is the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Unlike many others, insidethegames.biz is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe that sport belongs to everybody, and everybody should be able to read information regardless of their financial situation. While others try to benefit financially from information, we are committed to sharing it with as many people as possible. The greater the number of people that can keep up to date with global events, and understand their impact, the more sport will be forced to be transparent.
Support insidethegames.biz for as little as £10 - it only takes a minute. If you can, please consider supporting us with a regular amount each month. Thank you.