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Ireland’s Eddie Dunbar won the 19th stage of the Vuelta a Espana as Spain’s Enric Mas maintained his overall lead with two stages remaining.<\/b><\/p>\n
Friday’s stage was a hilly slog of 210.8km from Velez-Malaga to Penas Blancas, with Dunbar, 30, catching and passing Santiago Buitrago 300 metres from the finish.<\/p>\n
Both were part of a four-man breakaway and the Colombian, the King of the Mountains leader, attacked with two kilometres to go.<\/p>\n
Dunbar did not respond initially but the Pinarello-Q36.5 rider timed his counter-attack perfectly to cross the line 14 seconds before Buitrago, with his British team-mate Thomas Gloag in third.<\/p>\n
Four-time Vuelta winner Primoz Roglic closed the gap on race leader Mas by 33 seconds during Thursday’s time trial,<\/a> but the Movistar rider held on to his lead despite general classification rivals Roglic and Richard Carapaz trying to increase the pace on the 18km climb to the finish.<\/p>\n Britain’s Oscar Onley finished alongside the rest of the leading contenders to retain his fifth position overall and keep hold of the white jersey for the best young rider.<\/p>\n Mas, who has finished second overall three times in the Vuelta, has a cushion of one minute and 37 seconds heading into Saturday’s 186.8km mountain stage from La Calahorra to Collado del Alguacil.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old will hope to seal his first Grand Tour title when the race concludes on Sunday with a 112km stage in Granada.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n