Welcome to live coverage of stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espana - a second day in the Basque Country with a 185km lumpy ride from Bilbao to Vitoria.

Irish rider Nicolas Roche (Ag2R) is the best-placed rider of the group, 10:31 down on red jersey Juan Jose Cobo in the GC.

The break has opened up a gap of more than a minute on the peloton.

The 27 riders are: Roche and Mondory (Ag2R), Kiserlovski (Astana), Txurruka and Isasi (Euskaltel), Bakelants and Van de Walle (Omega), Le Mevel (Garmin), Kruijswijk and Barredo (Rabobank), Karpets, Paolini and Vorganov (Katusha), Lastras (Movistar), Marzano, Righi and Mori (Lampre), de Kort (Skil), Caruso (Liquigas), van Avermaet (BMC), Bennati (Leopard), Cataldo (QuickStep), Toribio (Andalucia), Carrara (Vacansoleil), Marycz and Nuyens (Saxo), Howard (HTC).

BREAK: 27 riders have pinged off the front, including Leopard Trek sprinter Daniele Bennati, Ag2R all-rounder Nicolas Roche, stage three winner Pablo Lastras (Movistar), Rabobank pair Carlos Barredo and Steven Kruikswijk, Tour of Flanders winner Nick Nuyens (Saxo Bank), BMC's Greg Avermaet and Basque rider Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel). They have about 50 seconds on the bunch.

Matteo Carrara of Vacansoleil has a solo pop, but he's reeled in. There must be some nails on the road: three riders - Heinrich Haussler (Garmin), Chris Sorensen (Saxo Bank) and Fabio Duarte (Geox) - all pick up punctures. A large split then forms in the peloton, with around 40 riders in the first group. It comes back together under the work of Geox, before Martin Kohler (BMC) and Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep) have a short-lived turn off the front.

A typically active start to today's stage sees 11 riders ping off the front early on only for the peloton to regroup. Geox will be keen for a controlled group to get ahead before that intermediate sprint - provided, of course, it doesn't contain either Froome or Wiggins.

The remaining 167 riders get the penultimate stage of the 66th Vuelta a Espana underway!

So, what's on the agenda today? First up we have what could be a decisive intermediate sprint after 40km. With those bonus seconds up for grabs, perhaps Sky will try and spring a trap? Then we have a series of four climbs, including the final Cat.1 Puerto de Urkiola. It's a tough climb, but comes 50km from the end of the stage, which culminates in long, flat and largely straight roads. Presuming Froome does manage to get away, it will be hard to stay out in front till the finish.

It's a hot day in the Basque Country, with temperatures in the high 20s at the start in Bilbao.

Spain's Juan Jose Cobo (Geox) maintains his 13-second lead over Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky) in the GC, with Bradley Wiggins sitting in third, 1:41 down. It looks like this will be the podium in Madrid - but there's still time for one final twist in the Basque Country...

Yesterday, local favourite Igor Anton of Euskaltel-Euskadi won stage 19 of the Vuelta in Bilbao as the race returned to the Basque Country for the first time in 33 years. Anton, who grew up in a small village outside the Basque capital, soloed to the most symbolic victory of his career after attacking from a small breakaway on the final climb of the day, 20km from the finish.