The 2019 Vuelta a España will take on its final mountain stage on Saturday in the Sierra de Gredos west of Madrid. This will be Primoš Roglic's last attempt at the increasingly likely overall win, as well as a return to the most important climb and GC battle in the history of the Vuelta.

Back in 1983, Gredos attacked on the climb of Peña Negra, the last first category of Saturday's race in 2019, Bernard Inaud attacked again on El Pico, and finally the overnight leader on the second climb of Saturday's stage, Serranillos It was where he dropped Julian Gorospe (Spain) and succeeded in overturning the overall Vuelta standings.

Gorospe eventually finished 20 minutes behind Avila, where Ino beat two top Spaniards, Marino Lejarreta and Vicente Verda, in a three-man sprint to win the Vuelta.

He later said that this victory was the most difficult of his 10 Grand Tour victories.

Although that day in 1983 became a legendary race in its own right, Gredos '83 will also be remembered as an important stage of the Vuelta that helped to restore international interest and confidence in cycling's third Grand Tour, thanks to an epic battle between four-time Tour winner Inhofe and the young Spanish challengers. It is also remembered as the stage that helped the third Grand Tour of cycling regain international interest and credibility.

It was especially important after the turbulence of the 1982 event, when local native Angel Arroyo tested positive for doping and was stripped of his victory.

What makes this stage unique, with 4,430 meters of climbing over 190 km from Arenas de San Pedro to Plataforma de Gredos, is not its major difficulty in the final stages, but rather its overall difficulty.

In fact, the biggest challenge of stage 20 is that there is almost no flatness throughout the day.

As soon as the 2019 Vuelta riders leave San Pedro on Saturday morning, they will face the double punch of the first class of San Bernardo and the second class of Serranillos.

The next 140 kilometers would see the road undulate endlessly toward the Plataforma de Gredos climb that would effectively end the Vuelta. The worst moment would be the 1,910-meter-high, 14.2-km-long, first-class Puerto de Peña Negra.

But with three weeks of hard racing, winding and unfamiliar mountain roads, the possibility of stormy weather (storms are expected in the region), and of course other competitors, the overall battle will be more of a battle against fatigue.

Logrich, who will be looking to take his first Grand Tour on Sunday in Madrid, not only has a 2:50 advantage over second-place Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), but is also swimming strongly through the GC currents.

Jumbo Visma lost Steven Kruijswijk in the first week and Tony Martin on stage 19, but has strong mountain riders from George Bennett to Sepp Kuss, Robert Gesink, and Nielson Powles. And finally, Roglic himself has proven to be the most consistent of the GC contenders.

From Valverde to fifth-placed Tadey Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates), Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar), and Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team), four riders are all within two minutes of each other.

Superman's explosive criticism of the team after the stage 19 controversy may have also heightened animosity between Lopez and the Movistar group.

Can the 2019 Vuelta produce the same exciting Gredos stage as it did in 1983? It seems unlikely, given Roglic's dominance to date, rather than the ever-changing physiognomy of the GC field 36 years ago, when Ino took on and then beat the young Spanish challengers.

But an unpredictable finale awaits at the Vuelta a España, where the riders are approaching the limits of their fitness.