Vuelta a Espana 2013 - Stage 19

Stage 19 of this year's Vuelta was always set to be a decisive stage, coming where it did in this year's route, but quite how decisive could not have been foreseen by the organisers. Vincenzo Nibali of Astana went into the stage with just a 3 second lead over the race's oldest competitor, Christopher Horner, who is just a month or two off turning 42. It was a 181 kilometre ride from San Vicente de la Barquera to the Alto Naranco which the peloton would race over, with the first half of the race being basically flat.

A huge breakaway formed, consisting of twenty men at its largest. Big names such as Edvald Boasson Hagen, David Arroyo and Benat Inxausti were all present. The break eventually broke down, after only gaining a maximum of three minutes, and eventually the lead group contained just two men; Edvald Boasson Hagen of Sky Procycling, and Georg Preidler of Argos-Shimano.

Despite their gap being a maximum of three minutes, it didn't look likely that the duo would contest the stage, as many of the overall contenders, namely Joaquim Rodriguez and Alejandro Valverde, are yet to win a stage. Katusha did most of the work on the stage, joined by Omega Pharma-Quickstep, but another break did form to chase down the pair of leaders. 

This ten man group contained names such as Jose Herrada (Movistar), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural) and Juan Antonio Flecha of Vacansoleil-DCM, a team which has only three men left in the race now Johnny Hoogerland has also abandoned. He was joined by Maxim Iglinskiy of Astana, meaning Euskaltel-Euskadi are the only team with a full compliment of riders left in the race.

Preidler and Boasson Hagen were eventually caught by Gorka Verdugo, Juan Antonio Flecha and Jose Herrada, but the five men didn't stay together for very long, as Preidler went straight on the attack. These men were all eventually brought back by the peloton, and the last break of the day was a one man effort from Jose Joao Mendes of Team NetApp-Endura. 

Mendes never gained more than a minute, and the cameras were focused on the peloton, who were now charging up the Alto Naranco, being headed up by Nicolas Roche's Saxo-Tinkoff team. Nicolas Roche then put in a dig with 1 kilometre to go, with only Scarponi able to follow at first, but then outjumped Joaquim Rodriguez, who's ferocious attack was too much for any of the other contenders to handle. He took the stage win, despite the best efforts of Diego Ulissi and Samuel Sanchez. 

At the finish Chris Horner and Alejandro Valverde finished six seconds ahead of Vincenzo Nibali, which means the American now leads the race by the same amount he trailed after yesterday's stage. Valverde is now just a minute and six seconds behind, with Rodriguez also moving to within two minutes. The race is well and truly set for a final showdown atop the Angliru.