An unbelievable day of racing was finished off by last year's World champion, France's Julian Alaphilippe to double up and take the rainbow jersey for the second year in a row. Dylan van Baarle (Netherlands) was second and Michael Valgren (Denmark) third. Belgium zero.

An exciting finalé of attacks and counter-attacks came down to a sprint from a select group. The Italian team took control in the last kilometre to put Elisa Balsamo over the line first ahead of Marianne Vos. Poland's Katarzyna Niewiadoma took the bronze medal.

Germany is the new World champion in the Mixed Relay Team Time Trial. Over the 44.5 kilometre course, divided over 22.5 kilometres for the three men and 22 kilometres for the three women, the Germans were 12 seconds faster than the Netherlands. The bronze went to Italy.

Filippo Ganna kept his time trial rainbow jersey with a very close battle with Wout van Aert. The Italian came back from an early deficit on the Belgian to win by 5 second. Remco Evenepoel was the early leader and held on for third place.

Primoz Roglič made no mistake about winning his third Vuelta a España. With a strong performance against the clock he concreted his overall win with the stage win. Magnus Cort Nielsen (EF Education-Nippo) just missed out on another stage win by 14 seconds.

The final road race stage of the 2021 Vuelta a España split on the tough roads of Galicia. Primoz Roglič and Enric Mas were safe in first and second overall, but Miguel Ángel López and Egan Bernal were the big losers. Jack Haig and Adam Yates moved up. Clément Champoussin won the stage.

On stage 19 the break of the day went all the way to the finish, but it was close. Of the seven riders from the escape, Magnus Cort Neilsen was the fastest out-sprinting Rui Oliveira (UAE-Team Emirates) and Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo). Primoz Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) finished with the peloton to keep the red jersey.

The blue Movistar jersey of Miguel Ángel López was difficult to recognise as he came through the fog and over the finish line at the summit of the murderous climb of the Altu de El Gamoniteiru. The Colombian had attack the GC group and held off the overall leader, Primoz Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) by 14 seconds for the stage win.

Legendary is a word too easily used these days, but in years to come, Vuelta'21 stage 17 might be looked back on as 'legendary'. Egan Bernal (INEOS Grenadiers) started the move of the day, but it was Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) who finished it off at the Lagos de Covadonga. Stage and overall lead for the Slovenian.