In a year when the overall standings in the Vuelta a España were tied up in a deciding race, Sunday's final bunch sprint was so appropriately close that winner Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) admitted after the race that he had no idea who had crossed the line first.

The German's anxiety was such that she looked sideways at her rival Sam Bennett (Diesnink Quickstep).

After all, neither Bennett nor Ackermann wanted to claim victory. According to Ackermann, as the tumultuous sprint unfolded, with several lead packs from De Tuninck-Quickstep to Sunweb, UAE Team Emirates, and Mitchelton-Scott bumping hard with 1km to go to control the finish, the actual The result was not clear, he said.

Whether or not Ackermann won the second stage, the fastest finisher of the day, Bennett, was relegated on stage 9 at Aguilar de Campu after he shouldered his rival in the last kilometer, and as a result, the German was promoted to first place, giving Ackermann his first win in the Vuelta. Ackermann was awarded.

But Ackermann, having "won" thanks to his rival's demotion, was asked if he wanted to prove to the other Vuelta sprinters in Madrid that he could not only beat them on the bike, but also indirectly through the commissaire's decision

"Sure," he replied, 'I always said I wanted to win the stage where I crossed the finish line first. I'm happy to win today and my teammates did a great job.

While Bennett finished in second place, the same as in Madrid in 2019 when he lost to Fabio Jacobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Ackermann said it was a very tight match.

"I wasn't sure. I was asking Sam who won, and then I had to wait a few minutes," Ackermann said after the match. I'm really happy to end the year with a win."

Ackermann, who finished second to Jasper Philipsen (UAE-Team Emirates) in Puebla de Sanabria a few days earlier, suggested that he was close to finishing the Vuelta. He made sure of that by winning the most prestigious sprint finish of the Vuelta a España in central Madrid. But with multiple mountain stages and a late-season Vuelta, he knew that getting to the finish would not be the easiest experience.

"It was a really hard race, there were never easy stages, there were always big battles in the breakaway groups, and many mountain stages. Yesterday [stage 17], most sprinters and teamworkers were suffering right from the start. We had to save as much energy as possible and it finally paid off."