Australia's Jay Byrne was on a mission on stage 20 of the Vuelta a España. His goal was to score as many KOM points as possible and secure the polka-dot jersey before the final climb of the day, which would be contested by GC contenders on the Picon Blanco climb. To do so, the UAE Team Emirates rider entered the breakaway early on and was soon joined by teammate Marc Soler.

While Vine took points on the first three climbs, Soler attacked alone, effectively putting his teammate in line for the mountains prize with two climbs remaining in the stage. This tactic led many to suspect that the teammates were fighting each other for points, but Weine said of Soler, “He's a really great teammate”

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“I told him I had some unfinished business on my rest day, and Marc and he agreed to help me out on the last day.

Joining Bain and Soler in the 10-man breakaway group were Pablo Castillo (Kernfarma) and Marco Frigo (Israel Premier Tech), 20 and 31 points behind Soler, respectively.

As part of a 10-man breakaway group, Wein was the de facto KOM leader with top points in the day's two Cat. 2 mountains, Las Estacas de Trueba and Puerto de la Bragia. He also added points on the first two mountain sections of the day, Alto de la Braguia. Following Soler's acceleration, he added more points on the first of the day's two climbs, the Alto del Caracol. Castrillo and Frigo also jumped into the points.

The breakaway was broken when Soler made his trademark solo attack on the Portillo de Lunada, the first mountain category 1 of the day. The first climb of the day. Sorrell was the first to summit, cutting Vine's lead to just two points.

Castrillo and Frigo rejoined the chase group with Vine and Clément Berthe (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale). Vignet accelerated from the chasing group to take the next mountain point.

With two climbs remaining in the stage, Soler and Vinet tied in the virtual KOM standings, each with 76 points.

With the final climb, Puerto de Tornos, in sight, Castrillo, Berthe, Frigo, and Vine reeled in Soler; to take the KOM jersey, Vine needed to gain at least one point. However, this was easier said than done, as the first three also had time bonus seconds at stake.

Soler sacrificed himself for his teammate on the final dig, leaving Vine to make up the pace, but the red jersey group ate him up on the climb with 6.4km to go, and Vine had no choice but to hang on to the elite group.

With GC contenders occupying the top three places on the climb, Wein held on in fourth place, earning the relevant two points and securing the polka-dot jersey.

“They told me that if I got one more point, I would be safe now. Because they caught up with me on the Cat 2 climb before Cat 1.

Vine eventually finished in 22nd place, six minutes behind stage winner Eddie Dunbar (EF Education Easypost) and 18 seconds behind teammate Isaac Del Toro.

Veen thanked his teammate Soler after the stage.

“He helped tire out the other two guys who were going for the points. I could see that from the beginning and it kept me fresh. I didn't have to, though, because Isaac scored right in front of me. He is a really great teammate.”

Wein is assured of the overall mountains win barring a catastrophe on Sunday's final stage.

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