Mas eyeing Vuelta triumph as Irishman takes stage win

Irishman Eddie Dunbar has overhauled leading climber Santiago Buitrago with 500m remaining in stage 19 of the Vuelta a Espana to secure an impressive victory while Spain's Enric Mas successfully defended his lead atop the general classification.

Dunbar's Pinarello Q36.5 teammate Thomas Gloag came third on the hilly 210.8km route from Velez-Malaga to Estepona on Friday.

Early in the day, a series of breakaway groups struggled to escape the peloton. At the first summit, Dunbar was among a group of 16 riders who held a 28-second advantage over the peloton.

The gap widened significantly during the middle of the route, reaching almost seven-and-a-half minutes before the final climb up Penas Blancas.

Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious), wearing the polka dot jersey, began to pull away from the group 12km from the finish with Dunbar and Gloag for company.

It looked as if the Colombian would drive clear when he attacked with two kilometres remaining, but Dunbar remained tenacious to chase him up the hill and power past.

"I really didn't expect this today, I even said on the radio after about 50, 60km, that I wasn't feeling good," said Dunbar.

"This year I had three months out after a bad accident, without riding a bike. I really didn't think I'd be here at all, let alone competing to win anything."

It is a second stage win at the Vuelta for 30-year-old Dunbar, his previous victory coming in 2024.

In the general classification, primary challengers Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) made fruitless individual breakaway attempts throughout the day.

On the last climb, Carapaz and Roglic made final efforts to push clear, but Mas kept Roglic comfortably close to him.

Roglic and Mas crossed the finish line alongside each other, 5:11 behind Dunbar, with the Spaniard still holding a strong 1:37 lead over the four-time champ Roglic.

Team Picnic PostNL's Chris Hamilton was the top Australian on the day in eighth place while Netcompany INEOS's Jack Haig leads the way overall as he lies 24th of the 145 riders still left in the gruelling three-week event.