So he's barely been on camera today, but that's exactly what Chris Froome wants - to safely negotiate the day with as little drama as possible before the challenges of the Angliru tomorrow.

If Froome did indeed risk his Tour de France bid by deliberately coming in undercooked so he could sustain fitness and form later in the year to win this Vuelta, then it's paying off impeccably right now.

He was tested and even cracked to lose the yellow jersey during the Tour, while he's also had his struggles here - most notably losing 42 seconds to Vincenzo Nibali on Wednesday - but has still looked a level above his rivals over both Grand Tours.

A reminder of where this places him in cycling history - only French legends Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault have won the Tour and Vuelta in the same year. But that was before the Vuelta moved to after the Tour in August and September.

Riders in the leading pack of 21 start having a dig up a brief rise, trying to shake off a few numbers.

Blue polka-dot jersey wearer Davide Villella goes but is marked.

Ivan Garcia now gets a gap and goes off solo. Long way to go, mind.

Quick-Step Floors' Matteo Trentin duly wins the intermediate sprint and claims the maximum four points on offer.

That cuts Froome's lead in the points classification to 12 - can Trentin overtake him by contesting the finish today?

Even if he can't, a high placing would help, with Froome likely to be up near the front tomorrow but Trentin - after three stage wins - perhaps the favourite for the final sprint in Madrid.

Perhaps slightly odd to see Astana driving the bunch, when it is up to Team Sky to protect Froome's overall lead.

However, they've got Lopez and Aru in the top 10 and also lead Sky in the team classification so are likely looking after those interests.

That four-man chasing group of Villella, Lobato, Bouwman and De Vreese have rejoined the leaders to swell it to 21 riders.

The intermediate sprint is the next landmark for the break before they turn their thoughts to the final climb and run-in to Gijon.

Astana now driving the peloton, taking over from Team Sky, who have done most of the work today.

Not that it's been too taxing for the peloton - allowing the gap to the break to get out to 18 minutes.

Astana's surge is bringing it down though and expect the peloton not to trail the stage winner by this deficit at the finish.

Confirmation that the leading group now contains 17 riders, including Matteo Trentin.

The Italian has proven to be the best sprinter in the race with three stage wins so far - the break won't want to bring him to the finish in Gijon.

The current mountains classification leader Davide Villella is part of a four-man group just behind the leaders, looking to bridge back on.

The leading seven riders have been joined by another 10 by the 50km to go mark and now have a lead of 17 minutes 46 seconds over the peloton.

The peloton won't mind that gap for now, happy to have as much of a day off as possible before tomorrow's nightmarish stage.

They can't let it grow too big, though. Nicolas Roche is in the leading group and is 27 minutes nine seconds down on Chris Froome.

The red jersey will of course be his sole focus, but Chris Froome also leads the green jersey points classification.

In contrast to the Tour de France equivalent, the Vuelta points classification doesn't weight sprint stages higher and rewards consistent high finishes on every stage, which is why plenty of GC riders are up in the top 10 right now...

1. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 137 points
2. Matteo Trentin (Ita/Quick-Step Floors) 121
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) 118
4. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana Pro Team) 90
5. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Team Sunweb) 89
6. Alberto Contador (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) 80
7. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) 79
8. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa/Movistar) 69
9. Esteban Chaves (Col/Orica-Scott) 61
10. Pawel Poljanski (Pol/Bora-Hansgrohe) 58

Matteo Trentin has three stage victories to his name so far and will be targeting the final stage in Madrid to try and secure the points jersey. He's also somewhere between the first group and the peloton on the road so could try to mop up some points at the intermediate sprint.

Ireland's Nicolas Roche is laying it down on the descent, with only Romain Bardet, Rui Costa and Bob Jungels for company at first.

The select group out of the initial break come back together on the flat.

Seven riders there: Thomas de Gendt, Romain Bardet, Rui Costa, Nicolas Roche, Dani Navarro, Antwan Tolhoek and Bob Jungels.

Mr Breakaway himself, Thomas de Gendt, leads the race over the Alto de la Falla de los Lobos.

Only Romain Bardet, Rui Costa, Nicolas Roche, Dani Navarro, Antwan Tolhoek, Bob Jungels and Floris de Tier have managed to go with the Belgian.

The rest of the break is scattered behind.

Just as I type that, the break start to splinter, with Thomas de Gendt setting the tempo on the front as they approach the summit of the excellently-named category three Alto de la Falla de los Lobos.

It's not been the happiest of home tours for Spanish riders - indeed none have won a stage so far.

The last time that happened was 1996.

Today is the first of three remaining chances and there are seven Spaniards up in the 28-man break: Juan Jose Lobato, Ivan Garcia Cortina, Dani Navarro, David Arroyo, José Joaquin Rojas, Antonio Pedrero, Carlos Verona.

The 28-man breakaway are approaching the halfway mark of the stage with a lead of 15 minutes 21 seconds on the Team Sky-led peloton.

Given Chris Froome has held the leader's red jersey since stage three, it's fair to say he has dominated the GC battle at this Vuelta.

However, he has not been infallible - losing 42 seconds to nearest challenger Vincenzo Nibali on Wednesday's stage 17, only to then take back half of that in an impressive showing yesterday.

So the Tour-Vuelta double is in the bag then? Not quite - this stage is less likely to provide a major GC shake-up but the monstrous Angliru awaits on Saturday.

The Angliru is up there with the toughest climbs in the world - favourites can lose minutes not seconds. It scuppered Bradley Wiggins' Vuelta bid - and by extension then Team Sky team-mate Froome's - in 2011 as Juan Jose Cobo took the stage win and the leader's red jersey before holding on to Madrid.

So who do you reckon will take the stage win today?

Can anyone stop Froome winning the title?

Which rider has disappointed you most this Vuelta?

Send me your answers, thoughts, questions, random musings etc on #bbccycling

Davide Villella decided not to bother waiting and stayed off the front but has just been caught by a large breakaway group.

The chasers, led by Romain Bardet, joined the initial 19-man break a few kilometres ago.

That makes it 28 riders off the front now, 15 minutes 41 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Speaking of Froome, here's how things are poised in the overall standings after yesterday's stage 18...

1. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 72hrs 03mins 50secs
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Bahrain-Merida) +1mins 37secs
3. Wilco Kelderman (Ned/Team Sunweb) +2min 17secs
4. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) +2mins 29secs
5. Alberto Contador (Spa/Trek-Segafredo) +3mins 34secs
6. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana Pro Team) +5mins 16secs
7. Michael Woods (Can/Cannondale-Drapac) +6mins 33secs
8. Fabio Aru (Ita/Astana Pro Team) Same time
9. Wout Poels (Ned/Team Sky) +6mins 47secs
10. Steven Kruijswijk (Ned/LottoNL-Jumbo) +10min 26secs

Davide Villella duly takes the summit of the category three climb and adds three points to take his total to 67 points.

He now leads Miguel Angel Lopez by 20 points in the mountains classification. There are, however, 35 points on offer on a massive day of climbing tomorrow.

The peloton, led by Chris Froome's Team Sky, are some 15 minutes behind Villella on the road.

With the GC battle taking a backseat in the early part of the stage, the mountains classification is worth looking at. Here were the standings at the start of the day:

1. Davide Villella (Ita/Cannondale-Drapac) 54 points
2. Miguel Angel Lopez (Col/Astana Pro Team) 47
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa/Movistar) 33
4. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) 29
5. Rafal Majka (Pol/Bora-Hansgrohe) 28
6. Stefan Denifl (Aut/Aqua Blue Sport) 26
7. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R La Mondiale) 20
8. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha-Alpecin) 20
9. Thomas de Gendt (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) 19
10. Sander Armee (Bel/Lotto-Soudal) 18

Villella has wisely got himself in the break today - which Lopez would've not be allowed to do, given his high standing overall - and took the maximum 10 points over the first climb.

The Italian has also just popped off the front and has 2km to go to the summit of the category three Alto de Sto. Emiliano.