On stage 20 of the Vuelta a España, James Knox crossed the finish line exhausted, the young Englishman heavily bandaged from a crash 24 hours earlier, having slipped out of the top 10 in the overall standings at the last minute, but his race was just a fight to the finish. His race was now just a battle to finish.

Competing in his second Grand Tour since the Giro d'Italia earlier in the year, the 23-year-old had moved up to 10th overall by the second week with a breakaway in the mountains and strong riding in the crosswinds. However, he was badly injured on stage 19 when he crashed in a big crash that occurred 65 km from the finish.

Stage 20 began with Astana in a heated battle to put pressure on their GC rivals. Knox made little contact on the first of six climbs in the Sierra de Gredos, but began to drift on the second climb, Puerto de Serranillos, with about 150 km to go.

He redeemed himself on the descent and settled in as the race approached the halfway point. However, Astana sparked the race again in the third category, Puerto de Chia, with 70 km to go, and Knox fell more decisively.

Knox remained in the same position, finishing in 36th place, eight minutes behind the leader, who had started in 10th and was overtaken by Marc Soler (Movistar) and Mikkel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott), who finished in and around the red jersey group.

"I'm just glad it's over," Knox said at the finish. 'I'm mentally and physically exhausted right now.'

Despite missing the top 10, Knox was relieved that his experienced teammates supported him on stage. His roommates Philippe Gilbert and Zdenek Stival stayed with him throughout the day and helped him to the finish.

Cameras captured the moment when Gilbert, a former world champion and winner of four monuments, urged him to remove his gilet, then took it from him and carried it in his own jersey.

"I can't really put into words how Philippe and Zdenek pushed me all the way to the finish today," Knox said.

"I've never suffered so much on the bike and I don't think I would have made it to the finish line today without my amazing teammates.