American veteran Christopher Horner took the lead of the Vuelta a Espana in a mountainous 19th stage won by Joaquim Rodriguez on Friday.
Entering the day 3 seconds behind overnight leaderVincenzo Nibali, the 41-year-old Horner pulled away from the Giro d’Italia champion over the final uphill ascent to the finish line to claim a 3-second lead with just two days left.
Rodriguez used an explosive burst of speed to get his first stage victory of this edition with a winning time of more than 4 hours.
The penultimate stage is an 88-mile course that takes riders over three major summits before a last ascent of a special-category climb to the Alto de l’Angliru peak before the traditional finish in Madrid on Sunday.
Stage 19 Brief Results:
- Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) 4:16:13″
- Diego Ulissi (Italy / Lampre) +11″
- Daniel Moreno (Spain / Katusha)
- Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel)
- Chris Horner (U.S. / RadioShack) +14″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar)
- Michele Scarponi (Italy / Lampre) +16″
- Leopold Koenig (Czech Republic / NetApp) +20″
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana)
- Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Saxo – Tinkoff) +23″
General Classification After Stage 19:
- Chris Horner (U.S. / RadioShack) 77:56:05″
- Vincenzo Nibali (Italy / Astana) +3″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +1:06″
- Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) +1:57″
- Nicolas Roche (Ireland / Saxo – Tinkoff) +3:49″
- Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy / AG2R) +6:00″
- Leopold Koenig (Czech Republic / NetApp) +6:38″
- Thibaut Pinot (France / FDJ.fr) +7:02″
- Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel) +7:45″
- Daniel Moreno (Spain / Katusha) +11:05″