Vuelta Stage 20 - Bennati Brings It

Stage 20 then, and it turned out it was a bunch sprint. Daniele Bennati was the man today, earning his first Grand Tour win in quite a while, and setting himself up for a tilt at the Worlds at the end of the month. It could also be the last win for the the Lay-O-Pard Trek team, before they transform next year, into Radioshat-Nissan-Trek or some-such.

No big scores for the Bile Beans today, but enough to keep me in pole position. A bit of a shuffle with second and third spots though, as Happiness Stan sneak into second spot by a mere 3 points ahead of the Roulers.

I'm sure there's some tired legs among the riders in the Vuelta, but luckily for them, the end is in sight. As there's just one day to go. In theory, there's still enough time bonuses on offer for Chris Froome to stick it to Cobo and take the win. But lets face it, looking at the route, it's not going to happen. Stage 21 has got sprint finish written all over it.

Save some kind of huge upset, Cobo will win the race. And after Stage 21 there's the all important end-of-tour points to be calculated. Experience has shown me that these can make all the difference, and I suspect that Happiness Stan will do quite nicely. Experience has also shown me that the end-of-tour points can take George a while to work out, so there could be some tense times ahead, before we find out who will be the Fantasy Vuelta Champion of 20111.