Enric Mas all but secured overall victory in the Vuelta a España when he survived a brutal penultimate ⁠stage on the sun-baked slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The 31-year-old Movistar rider spent most of the 186km stage in a group ⁠alongside Primoz Roglic, Felix ⁠Gall and ​Richard Carapaz – the only men who could deny him the red jersey – and simply refused to crack.Looking perfectly in control up the steep ⁠and winding final 9km climb to Collado del Alguacil, Mas comfortably protected the 1min 37sec advantage he had held over Roglic after ⁠19 stages and even stretched his lead at the finish.With only Sunday’s ceremonial stage around the ​city of Granada to come, Mas looks ‌certain to become the first ‌Spanish rider to win the Vuelta since Alberto Contador 12 years ago.The veteran Mikel Landa made it ‌a perfect day for the home nation as the Soudal–Quick-Step rider powered away from the breakaway group up the Collado del Alguacil to take the stage, his first victory since 2021.Mikel Landa enjoys his first stage win for five years. Photograph: Javier Lizón/EPAMas inherited the red jersey when Tadej Pogacar, the overwhelming race favourite, crashed out on stage eight. Since then he has barely put a pedal stroke out of place to finally shake off the tag ‌of one of the best Spanish riders never to have won a Grand Tour, something he shares with Landa.There was still stage 20 to ​survive, though. A relentless day in the mountains featured four big climbs, including twice up the Puerto de El Purche, before the finale on the brutish Collado del Alguacil, a 17km climb with the last 8.3km averaging a leg-stinging 9.8%.The former Olympic champion Carapaz attacked throughout the day with his usual panache and ⁠Gall looked a threat to Mas. But the Spaniard was never flustered ​and when he dropped the four-time ​Vuelta champion Roglic in the final ​kilometres he knew the general classification battle was won.“It’s the first time in ​my life I feel ‌like this,” Mas ​said. “To be honest, ​I was just counting the kilometres. My feeling was super. The team did a super good job again. I won because the team did everything. Thank you.”With just the 21st stage around Granada left, Mas holds a 2min 15sec lead over Roglic with Gall 2:44 in arrears.