Twenty-one-year old Ivan Garcia Cortina kicked first from the breakaway group as they entered the final 500 metres, seeking to become Spain's first stage winner of this Vuelta in his home town, but he could not hold off the 30-year-old Belgian who has now won a stage in all three Grand Tours.

"I've had a good season but now my career is almost complete," De Gendt, riding for LottoSoudal, told Eurosport.

"The Bahrain-Merida rider [Garcia Cortina] was really strong in the sprint but I was on the wheel and, when he launched, I went full and did the sprint of my life."

Team Sky's Froome, 32, is aiming to become only the third man to win both the Tour de France and Vuelta in the same year.

Apart from shutting down a late attack by Spain's Alberto Contador, this stage was largely a stalemate between Froome and his rivals, with the peloton content to roll in 12min 15sec behind De Gendt.

Tomorrow's 117.5 kilometre route, which ends with a gruelling 13.2km climb up the Alto de l'Angliru, precedes Sunday's (September 10) processional final stage to Madrid.

If Britain's four-time Tour de France champion retains the red jersey by tomorrow evening he will win his first Vuelta title with convention dictating he will not be attacked on the final day.

"It was about trying to save as much energy as possible for Saturday and get through the day without many issues, so I'm happy to get the day behind us and focus on stage 20," said Froome.

"The Angliru is going to be rude, but it's an explosive and short stage, so we can expect fireworks from the start.

"There's some tough climbs before the Angliru, everybody is tired at this point of the race, but I feel good."

A summit finish on the Angliru was where Froome's sometime team-mate Bradley Wiggins saw his bid for the Vuelta title end in 2011 when he lost significant time to stage winner Juan Jose Cobo, who held on for overall victory.

Cortina had made his first move with 35km to go, establishing a lead of one minute before he was joined by France's Romain Bardet over the summit of the final climb.

Ireland's Nicolas Roche and Slovenia's Matej Mohoric joined the leading pair and looked set to contest the finish, only for Luxembourg's Bob Jungels to bring back a group of five chasers, including De Gendt.