Fabio Aru is poised for victory in the Vuelta a Espana after turning the screw on Tom Dumoulin to extend Holland's 35-year wait for a Grand Tour champion.
Giant-Alpecin's Dumoulin was six seconds clear of Italian Aru entering Saturday's 175.8km 20th stage, which Ruben Plaza (Lampre-Merida) won after a daring 115km solo escape.
The route from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla represented Aru's final chance ahead of Sunday's ceremonial finish in Madrid and he seized it, spurred on by his Astana team.
Aru reclaimed the red jersey as an isolated Dumoulin tumbled down the general classification standings, meaning Holland still have not had a Grand Tour winner since Joop Zoetemelk won the 1980 Tour de France.
Dumoulin finished seven minutes 30 seconds behind Plaza and 3mins 40secs adrift of Aru to fall to sixth overall, 3:46 behind.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) sits second, 1:17 adrift of Aru, with Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) third.
Ireland's Nicolas Roche finished the stage in 47th place 8mins 33secs behind Plaza and remains in 26th place overall.
