La Vuelta 2022 Stage 19 as it happened: Pedersen completes stage hat-trick with win over Wright

It was something of a GC stalemate today in the battle for red with Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) retaining his 2'07" lead over Spain's Enric Mas (Movistar). With the next four riders - Juan Ayuso, Miguel Angel Lopez, Carlos Rodriguez and Joao Almeida - all in with a chance of finishing on the podium or the top five, tomorrow's penultimate stage should be a real hum-dinger. For now, thanks for joining us and see you tomorrow - where The Breakaway will be back, as well as full live coverage here and on the TV channel.

Wright did his best but ran out of road there while Belgium's Gianni Vermeersh (Alpecin-Deceuninck) finishes strongly for third place ahead of Britain's Ben Turner (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dutchman Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma).

That was as routine a win as the Dane will ever get. Fred Wright (Bahrain Victorious) did look to be giving the Trek rider a run for his money, but Pedersen had the right line exiting the final corner and he takes a third win ahead of Britain's Wright.

Ineos Grenadiers led the pack from 3km through to the banner, when Jumbo-Visma drew up alongside them on a tight roundabout. Trek now take it up with Pedersen in a good position near the front... But it's Miles Scotson of Groupama-FDJ who then goes for a long one!

This reduced peloton is on a wide ring road and there's a big lull in proceedings. Quick-Step have come to the front to keep their man in red out of trouble. This could be a three-way battle between Pedersen, Teunissen and Wright - unless someone else tries their luck from distance.

It seems like a foregone conclusion that Mads Pedersen will win this stage. It would help if we had a confirmed list of fast finishers who are off the back of this reduced peloton of around 60 riders, but it does seem that the Dane in green is one of the only remaining 'sprinters' for this finale along with Teunissen and Wright.

Kenny Elissonde is the Trek rider driving the pace ahead of the Movistar train who are riding, presumably, to keep the pressure up on Remco Evenepoel - unless they hope to play the Valverde card later on? We're heading back into Talavera de la Reina where there will be a city centre loop ahead of the finish.

The green jersey, whose Trek-Segafredo team chased down the break and still have one man on the front, has taken the opportunity to drop back to his team car and load up with fresh water and some food. He'll be looking to win a third stage today. We don't know if the likes of McLay, Van Poppel, Ackermann or Groves have made it back, but Mike Teunissen of Jumbo-Visma is here, ditto Fred Wright. And there's always a chance that someone goes for a long one on the streets of Talavera de la Reina. Perhaps even Alejandro Valverde?

We're still waiting to see if any of the sprinters have managed to fight back on following that climb. The bulk of the descent is now over and the peloton is strung out on its return leg to Talavera de la Reina. Richard Carapaz drops back to pick up bottles from the Ineos team car. Big day for the 2019 Giro champion tomorrow - he'll defend his polka dot tomorrow and perhaps try to get a third stage win in what will be his second last stage in a Grand Tour for him at Ineos before his switch to EF Education-EasyPost.

The Ecuadorian Olympic champion went over in pole position to move onto 50pts in the KOM standings - double the tally of his nearest rival, Enric Mas. But it's Mas' Movistar team who have flocked to the front to put Remco Evenepoel under pressure on this descent.

We have not had any official confirmation but it seems like Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates), Dan McLay (Arkea-Samsic), Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Danny van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) have all been distanced, so it's playing nicely into Mads Pedersen's hands - although Fred Wright clearly wants to have a pop. With the summit now 2km away, Richard Carapaz is preparing himself for those 5pts which will shore up his polka dot push.

Basque climber Mikel Landa is setting the tempo on the front for Bahrain Victorious and, interestingly, Britain's Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) is sat in third. McNulty, Caicedo and then Okamika are swallowed up one by one and so that's that for the previously leading trio. We still have 7km of this climb to go and it will be interesting to see how it plays out - will Trek try and distance more sprinters, or will we perhaps see some counter-moves going off the front?

The gap is down to just 50 seconds for the three leaders as the race hits the Cat.2 climb for a second time. It's 9.3km long at 5.6% and Trek now have some help on the front from the Bahrain Victorious team of Fred Wright, who is clearly hoping for a first pro win on a day that would make it extra poignant for any British rider.

Here's the moment the race paid its respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II at the start/finish line of today's stage, fittingly in the city of Talavera de la Reina - "reina" being the word for queen in Spanish.

The leading trio have crested the top of the first of those two hills that precede the climb. They passed through the intermediate sprint at Hinajosa de San Vincente with the gap a stable 1'30". Okamika took the spoils there while the cameras didn't catch whether it was Mads Pedersen who led the peloton over to add more points to his green jersey tally. The Dane had a 200pts lead over Fred Wright going into today's stage - and with much respect to the British rouleur Wright, you'd think that lead may stretch out a bit in the next hour and a half.

Trek-Segafredo continue to pull on the front of the pack and they have brought the gap down to 1'40" for the three leaders, who are on their way back towards the Puerto del Pielago, which they will climb and descend for a second time on the way to the finish in Talavera de la Reina.

Tour of Britain have confirmed the cancellation of the Tour in Gloucestershire, in the wake of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar Team) has been awarded the winner of the AJ Bell Tour of Britain 2022. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday evening, aged 96 at her residence in Balmoral, Buckingham Palace announced.

He came close on the last climb and then closes the gap to around 30 seconds after the descent, but the task has proved too arduous on these exposed flat roads and he's pulled the pin. To be fair, even had he caught the trio, Trek-Segafredo seem to have this one firmly under control with the gap dropping to 2'30".