“There is still one really tough day of racing tomorrow [yesterday]”.
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Quintana has twice finished runner-up to Froome at the Tour de France, the last time in July when Froome and his Sky team were dominant.
Per Sky Sports, he said: “It’s fantastic”.
Quintana’s compatriot Esteban Chaves is set to claim a podium finish after making a break 44km from a summit finish to replace Alberto Contador in third.
Chavez also attacked on the final climb to claw back over a minute from the Spaniard, who was clearly suffering from his efforts on Friday.
“We saw the same with Jens Keuekeleire on stage 12, and today it was my turn to give it a go, and it was really awesome”. “The important thing is that I still have good legs to defend my lead tomorrow”.
“Quintana, with Movistar, he has a really good team around him, so it is going to be hard to beat him”, he said.
“The team was always very concentrated and we could keep everything under control all the time. It was incredible”, Nielsen said.
Quintana’s Movistar teammate Jonathan Castroviejo was second across the line, 44 seconds behind Froome.
More challenging tests await Quintana over the next two days – in the form of an individual time trial and mountainous penultimate stage – before the race concludes in Madrid on Sunday. “He did a great time trial [on stage 19] and he suffered to try to win this Vuelta”.
“It’s my first Grand Tour ever, three wins and two guys up in the GC”.
Today sees a 200.6km flat stage from Requena to Gandia, with Froome’s hopes resting on Friday’s 37km time trial and Saturday’s 193.2km run from Benidorm to Alto de Aitana.
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After a hard stage on Wednesday, the riders were faced with a somewhat kinder route on Thursday as they travelled 200.6 kilometres from Requena to Gandia and enjoyed a downhill finish. “I wondered if I might lose over three minutes, but the margin should be enough to get me to Madrid”.
