Vuelta a España leader Ben O'Connor survived a difficult stage of dangerous late attacks by EF Education-Easy Post leader Richard Calapaz with a 5-second overall lead.

Calapaz and EF launched a powerful surprise attack on the Alto de la Herrera (Category 1) climb. With about 40 km to go, on paper Maestu was far from the finish, but in reality it was more than enough to put O'Connor in a tight spot.

O'Connor, temporarily distanced by Carapaz's decisive attack near the summit, succeeded in making contact again with the EF-led GC group on the gentle descent after a frantic 2km chase led by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale.

Primoš Roglic (Red Bull/Bora-Hansgrohe) trailed O'Connor by only 5 seconds, Enric Mas (Movistar) by 1:25 and Carapas by 1:46.

Mikel Landa (T-Rex-Quick Step) lost a lot of time on stage 18, but with four rivals closing in on O'Connor, the Vuelta leader will be chased by a number of rivals on the crucial Montcalvillo climb on Friday.

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