After Primoz Roglic’s last-ditch defeat at the Tour de France, there must have been a grimly familiar feeling for the Slovenian as his defence of his title in the Vuelta a España came down to a solo battle against Richard Carapaz of Ecuador in the final kilometres of the final climb of the race, the 13km long high Alto de la Covatilla, climbing to almost 2,000m in a chilly wind that heralded winter. This time, however, Roglic survived by the skin of his teeth, and he will ride into Madrid on Sunday as the winner of the last race of the professional cycling season. It was a hugely suspenseful finish; like the Tour and the Giro d’Italia, the third and final Grand Tour of 2020 came down to the final set piece. All three were decided by less than a minute, and this will be the tightest margin, with Roglic retaining just a 25sec advantage. The alarm bells would have been ringing, however, after Carapaz, winner of last year’s Giro, sprinted away from the Jumbo-Visma man with about three and a half kilometres remaining. The Lancastrian Hugh Carthy, who had started the day third overall for EF Pro Cycling, had no answer, but he had spent energy in a couple of lunging attacks as the gradient eased after the initial steep slopes. “I was trying to test Roglic and Carapaz but in the end it wasn’t enough,” he said after sealing his place on the podium. “I’ve got no complaints, I’ve shown my ability.” Having twice brought Carthy to heel, Roglic had no answer to Carapaz’s single, incisive attack, and with no teammate to set a sustained pace for him, he had no option but to climb at his own pace and hope for the best. Up ahead, Carapaz’s initial surge halved his overnight deficit of 50sec with two kilometres remaining. There was just enough climbing up the bleak slopes left for the Ineos Grenadiers leader to hope that the red-jerseyed Roglic might crack, just as he had in the time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles in the Tour de France. Shortly afterwards, Carthy also sprinted away from Roglic in his gangling style, all elbows and knees, but behind, the Slovenian stuck grimly to the task. Amid the surreal sight of row upon row of empty crowd barriers – the climb, like all the summit finishes on the Vuelta, was closed to the public – Carapaz crossed the finish line 2min 34sec behind the stage winner, France’s David Gaudu. Roglic came in 21sec later, having kept just enough in reserve to push hard in the final kilometre. His clenched fist salute smacked of relief rather than triumph. The day boiled down to two separate races. A few minutes ahead of Roglic and Carapaz, the battle for the stage victory was fought out between the remains of a 34-strong escape, from which Gaudu escaped to take his second mountain stage win, making up for the early departure of his leader Thibaut Pinot. The move also included the two young Britons Mark Donovan and Fred Wright, who have both grown in strength and confidence as they have got deeper into their first Grand Tour, with the former, riding for Sunweb, finishing fifth on the day. The 178km were not a simple proposition, with greasy, twisting descents through isolated forests, one climb after another, and in one village with 18km to go, a lengthy stretch of cobbled roads. All of this had to be negotiated amid heavy rain showers, which have lashed the race for the last couple of days, causing the field to don winter clothing – rain capes, leg warmers, warm gloves – until the gloves came off literally and metaphorically on the Covatilla.