Marianne Vos closed in on a second successive Vuelta Femenina points title after sprinting to victory on the penultimate stage.
The Dutch rider beat American Kristen Faulkner into second place in Siguenza, winning the 138.6km stage by two seconds to move 86 points clear in the standings for the green jersey.
Demi Vollering, also from the Netherlands, maintained her overall lead after finishing fourth, one place behind Italy’s Elisa Longo Borghini, who is her closest challenger for victory in the general classification.
Longo Borghini came home in the same time as the red jersey holder, but picked up four bonus seconds for claiming a place on the podium.
Vollering, the 2023 Tour de France winner, will take a 52-second advantage into Sunday’s mountainous final stage, which includes two category one climbs and a summit finish in Valdesqui.
Stage seven result
1. Marianne Vos (Ned/Visma | Lease a Bike) 3hrs 27mins 56secs
2. Kristen Faulkner (US/EF Education-Cannondale) +2secs
3. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Lidl-Trek) Same time
4. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx-Protime)
5. Ingvild Gaskjenn (Nor/Liv-AlUla-Jayco)
General classification
1. Demi Vollering (Ned/SD Worx-Protime) 20hrs 47mins 59secs
2. Elisa Longo Borghini (Ita/Lidl-Trek) +52secs
3. Riejanne Markus (Ned/Visma | Lease a Bike) +1min 14secs
4. Juliette Labous (Fra/Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) +1:48
5. Niamh Fisher-Black (NZ/SD Worx-Protime) +2:16