Denis Menchov won the 20th stage of the Vuelta A Espana this afternoon.
Twenty riders in Juan José Cobo (Movistar), Maxime Bouet, Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Fredrik Kessiakoff, Kevin Seeldrayers (Astana), Klaas Lodewyck (BMC), David De La Fuente (Caja Rural), Leonardo Duque (Cofidis), Romain Sicard (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Thomas Peterson (Garmin-Sharp), Mikhail Ignatiev, Denis Menchov (Katusha), Denys Kostyuk (Lampre-ISD), Kevin De Weert, Gert Steegmans (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Simon Clarke (Orica-GreenEdge), Tiago Machado (RadioShack-Nissan), Richie Porte (Sky) are Simon Geschke (Argos-Shimano), broke after eighteen kilometres of this 170.7km stage from La Faisanera to Bola del Mundo.
This was a day for the climbers with the finish on the Bola Del Mundo which has gradients of up to 23% for the final three kilometres.
As the drizzle fell, the lead went out to 8.26 and Tony Martin decided that he had had enough and abandoned.
David De La Fuente of Caja Rural took the points on offer for being first over the Puerto de Cotos.
With 20kms to go, the escapers were still 5.42 clear and as they started on the final climb, the attacks from this group started to happen.
Denis Menchov and Team Sky's Richie Porte were brought to the front and with De Weert, they took on the final climb of this tour.
Further down the road, the cat and mouse saga of Alberto Contador and Alejandro Valverde continued but with 200 metres to go, Denis Menchov attacked and won the stage.
Porte came in second, seventeen seconds later with De Weert in third.
Joaquin Rodriquez attacked and finished 3.34 down on Menchov but some 50 seconds ahead of Contador who leads the race going into the final day in Madrid tomorrow.