20-year-old Slovenian rider Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) won the final stage of the Vuelta a España with a solo victory.

Pogachar's 40km solo attack on the Sierra de Gredos not only gave him his third Vuelta a España win this year after Andorra and Los Machucos, but also moved him up two places to third place in the final Vuelta a España overall.

With only the ceremonial stage remaining, Pogachar's victory puts him in a nearly decisive overall lead in the Best Young Rider Competition.

According to the official Vuelta website, his victory in the Plataforma de Gredos makes him the first rider under 21 to win three Grand Tours since Giuseppe Saronni in the 1978 Giro d'Italia.

After arguably the most spectacular solo mountain performance of this year's Vuelta, Pogachar said, "I never thought I could do this, to win three stages in this race and be on the podium. I won three stages in this race and made the podium.

Pogachar's 1:40 advantage at the top of Peña Negra, the final first class climb of the Vuelta a España, held until Plataforma de Gredos, despite Movistar desperately chasing behind him with the group accelerator firmly on the floor. It stayed that way all the way.

At the top of Gredos, Pogachal's advantage was reduced to just eight seconds, and Valverde was forced to chase himself up the final climb to ensure that Pogachal could not push the world champion out of second place, even if Quintana's third place could no longer be saved.

Asked how Pogachar, who was experiencing his first three-week Grand Tour, was able to maintain his one-hour breakaway, he replied: "I had the support of the Slovenian fans and the team car.

"Mazin (coach Joxen Fernandez) really encouraged me and kept me motivated the whole way. The most important thing was that on the last climb he yelled at me to go for the win.

"That level of support was amazing and it was full gas the whole time.

Asked why he looked so happy when he was forced to run hard, Pogachar denied that he was smiling. He revealed, "That was the face of my anguish; I was holding back my emotions."

Pogachar will find it difficult to keep his feelings to himself when he stands on the podium alongside Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in Madrid on Sunday evening.

"I need to finish tomorrow [Sunday] too, and if I do, it will be pretty amazing to stand next to them in the Grand Tour," Pogachar said. I can't imagine how it will feel."

Aside from how he will feel looking down at the crowd from the podium in Madrid, one wonders how he will feel. But another long-term question about his meteoric rise to Grand Tour success is how he will deal with the higher level of expectations that will now surround him.

"I'm going to be the same as always," Pogachar replied simply and straightforwardly. 'I'm not going to let the pressure get to me.'