Hola and welcome to live coverage of stage 20 of the Vuelta a Espana - the all-important 193km ride from Benidorm to Alto Aitana, a lumpy affair that will decide who rolls into Madrid in the coveted red jersey...

Contador now has some help of his own after Tinkoff's Trofimov has dropped back from the break to help lead the chase for his team-mate. In his wheel are five Movistar riders - including Quintana and Valverde - while Froome, isolated with just one Sky team-mate, is a bit further back. Froome does have Lopez further up the road, mind. So that's worth remembering...

Wonderful stuff from Howson and Chaves - they're 5:20 down on the leaders but 7:35 ahead of the main pack, so the Colombian is back on the virtual podium. For now.

ATTACK: Darwin Atapuma (BMC) attacks from the break. He knows there's quality here and wants to get in on the act. Remember, the Colombian finished second to Lilian Calmejane in stage four the day he took the red jersey. Now he wants that stage win.

Right, here we go, the two leaders are approaching the final climb of the day - and indeed of this climb-heavy Vuelta. The HC Alto di Aitana is 21km long with an average gradient of 5.9% and a maximum gradient of 13%. It's not a beast, but its length and consistent gradient means it could produce some big gaps...

It's now Mathias Frank - who won the other day atop the Alto Mas de la Costa - who leads the chase from the chasing group. They are still 1:45 down on Molard and Sanchez. Chaves and Howson trail by 6:35 and the pack is at 8:05.

Contador is no longer leading the chase as Chaves stretches his lead out to 1:15 over the main pack. Perhaps the Spaniard reckons he's better off staying fresh ahead of the final climb. There's still a very long way to go.

The Chaves-Howson duo has a minute on the other GC favourites now - huge motivation for the Colombian, who dropped off the podium yesterday at the expense of Alberto Contador. They're 1:11 apart on GC so this tees things up nicely for the final climb.

Interestingly, the riders will be coming back up this climb as part of the ascent of the Aitana once they've done a southerly loop. Even more interestingly, Chaves has been picked up by Orica-BikeExchange team-mate Damien Howson, who had been in that chasing group. Superb teamwork once again from the Australian team.

This descent is going to be integral to proceedings. Sanchez and Molard have 1:45 over the Elissonde/Gesink chasing group, 7:55 over Chaves, and 8:20 over the main pack of favourites, which includes Quintana, Froome and Contador.

It's Contador leading the chase now in a bid to reel in Chaves, who has a 30-second gap over the streamlined pack going over the summit.

CRASH: Clement Chevrier (IAM Cycling) hits the deck after a stupid fan steps out from the side of the road to wave to the TV cameras... that happened just before Elissonde launched for the final KOM point. What utter stupidity from the supporter there...

Meanwhile, back in the chasing group it's Elissonde who takes the final point over the summit to slash the deficit to just one point now to Fraile. Earlier, it was Molard who crested ahead of Sanchez for the maximum 5pts.

It's all happening with the main favourites as Estaban Chaves launches an attack after a prolonged period of pacing by his Orica team-mates. The pack is really whittling down, with Chris Froome left with just one Sky team-mate now, it appears. Still, it's better than Contador's situation - he has no Tinkoff team-mates anymore...

Now Gesink comes to the front alongside his friend and trusty sidekick Elissonde. They trail the two leaders by 1:30 now so they won't catch them before the summit...

Still it's Orica-BikeExchange lead the chase as the gap comes down to 11:45. It's something, but it still looks like we'll have two races today: one for the win, and a second for the final GC places and the red jersey.

Elissonde has found an ally in Atapuma and they have managed to slash the lead of the two leaders to 1:40. But only 3km of this climb to go...

Mindful of the situation, Elissonde takes up the pace setting in the chasing group, with Cannondale's King on his back wheel. The leaders are on a short downhill segment through a small down ahead of the final rise to the summit.

The leaders are onto the Cat.2 Puerto de Tudons (7.1km at 5.3%) and their gap is still 2:10. They're taking it in turns on the front and combining well - meaning Elissonde may have to settle for just the one point, leaving him one point adrift of Fraile atop the KOM standings...

Orica-BikeExchange have come to the front once again to up the tempo and pile on the pressure. It's still the calm before the storm, mind. The gap is up to 14:35 for Molard and Sanchez, with the chasers 2:15 down.

Movistar are controlling the tempo on the front of the pack through Rory Sutherland. The road is heading up again for the preliminaries to this penultimate climb. The big question is when and where Chris Froome will attack - or will Nairo Quintana pre-empt it with an attack of his own. The last climb is over 20km long so Froome won't have to make his move too early - but to recoup 1:21 he'll need to leave enough time to do what he has not yet managed to do, and drop Quintana on a climb in this Vuelta.

Both Astana and Cofidis are without a stage win in this Vuelta so there's a fair bit of pressure on this leading duo. Sanchez appears to be doing more of the pace-setting - and he's by far the better climber of the two. Molard has just picked up some gels from his team car. They have two minutes over the chasers and 11:45 over the pack now, as they head downhill towards the foot of the next climb.