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Sam Bennett has survived the mountains of La Vuelta after finishing second from last on today's stage 17 in the mist and rain at the summit of La Covatilla.
His reward is one last shot at victory in the 2020 season when the Spanish Grand Tour concludes in Madrid tomorrow with a flat stage that should finish in a bunch sprint.
Now riding for Deceuninck-QuickStep, Bennett was a Bora-hansgrohe man at this race last year when he won two stages and placed 2nd on the final day, to his now team mate Fabio Jakobsen.
Irishman Bennett (30) will be looking to go one better tomorrow to take his second victory of this Grand Tour and wrap up what has been a truly remarkable season for him.
His huge breakthrough at the Tour de France saw him win stage 10 and the final stage in Paris and, with it, the points classification - Ireland's first classification jersey win at a Tour since Sean Kelly won his fourth points jersey back in 1989.
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Bennett should have taken his 50th career win and his team's 100th Grand Tour stage win earlier in this Vuelta but for the Irishman being relegated on stage 9 for shoulder barging.
However, he can put that bad experience behind him with another win tomorrow, when Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) and Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) will be his main rivals if the stage ends in the bunch sprint.
Philipsen and Ackermann appear to have handled the second half of the Vuelta better than Bennett, though if the Irishman gets a clear run at the line tomorrow he could win it to end a brilliant season on a high.
He took his first win of the season with stage victory on Tour Down Under back in January, before winning Race Torquay, also in Australia. He didn't win again until after the lock-down, when he took a stage at Vuelta a Burgos in July.
In August he took a stage win at the Tour de Wallonie before those two famous wins at the Tour. He has one win so far on La Vuelta - on stage 4.
It has been a fantastic race for the Irish with stage wins by both Bennett and Dan Martin, who claimed victory on stage 3 and who is also set to finish 4th overall tomorrow barring major incident.
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