Quintana had expressed the need to have built a substantial lead over the Tour de France victor prior to the time trial and his view proved an accurate one, with his general classification rival reigniting what appeared to be a fading challenge.
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Three-time Vuelta victor Alberto Contador moved up to third overall by finishing eighth on the day to leapfrog Esteban Chaves.
“Froome is strongly protected but we have to try to take advantage of all kinds of different situation [at the Tour de France]”.
“There is still one really tough day of racing tomorrow [yesterday]”.
“My team defended all the attacks of the other teams, above all (Froome’s) Sky”, Quintana said.
It was Froome’s second win of this year’s Vuelta.
Quintana’s Movistar teammate Jonathan Castroviejo was second across the line, 44 seconds behind Froome.
Quintana defended his lead over second-placed Froome on stage 20’s summit finish and now only has to avoid crashing on Sunday’s final stage into Madrid to seal 1min 23sec triumph.
“It’s my last race of the year and I’m happy to still be in good condition”. Let’s see. Quintana still has more than one minute’s advantage, but we are going to keep fighting all the way.
“We’ll see [what happens] tomorrow and I’ll speak with my team-mates tonight”. It’s going to be tough to beat him.
Silvan Dillier (BMC), who was looking to end up among the best, saw his hopes vanish into thin air after a crash in the final u-turn.
At the first intermediate check point, there is already a clear hierarchy between the main favourites. “Riding against the greats like Froome and Alberto Contador gives this win so much more importance”.
Around the halfway point, Froome passed Chaves.
Quintana thanked his Movistar team and dedicated the win to Jose Rojas, a Movistar rider who crashed midway through the stage and was evacuated in ambulance with a leg injury.
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Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac) moved ahead of British rider Simon Yates into the top five.
