Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) finally got his stage win in the Vuelta a Espana when the Spaniard launched one of his trademark accelerations one kilometre from the top of the Alto del Naranco. Nobody was able to catch the Katusha captain while Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) lost ground in the hectic finale, handing over the red jersey to Chris Horner (Radioshack) on the eve of the Angliru stage.

Joaquim Rodriguez has desperately chased a stage win in this year's Vuelta a Espana and was almost running out of options. Today everything finally fell into place for the tiny Spaniard when he rode away from his rivals inside the final kilometre of the iconic Alto del Naranco climb.

A fierce chase by his Katusha team throughout most of the day had reeled in the numerous escapees  that had tried to make use of the hilly terrain to take a stage win on what could be their last opportunity. On the final climb, Saxo-Tinkoff hit the front and severely whittled down the size of the peloton while Rodriguez kept his calm a little further behind.

Nicolas Roche (Saxo-Tinkoff) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre) were the first GC riders to try their hand when the final escapee Jose Mendes (NetApp) was caught just as they passed the flamme rouge. They were, however, overtaken by a furious acceleration from Rodriguez who quickly built up a big gap.

Behind, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) desperately tried to reel his former teammate in but the Spaniard kept losing time. Instead, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) launched  a move and was followed by Diego Ulissi (Lampre) and Daniel Moreno (Katusha).

However, no one was going to catch Rodriguez who crossed the line in solo fashion, finishing 11 seconds ahead of Ulissi who beat Moreno and Sanchez in the sprint for 2nd. Behind, a drama took place as the fierce pace caused the main group to splinter to pieces.

A 6-second gap opened up between Chris Horner and Vincenzo Nibali and so the 41-year-old American saw his 3-second deficit reversed to a similar advantage. He now takes hi narrow lead into the big final showdown to the top of the feared, brutally steep Alto del Angliru that will bring the GC side of the Vuelta a Espana to a dramatic close.

Starting at 15.00 CEST you can follow the drama on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A hilly stage

The Vuelta a Espana reached the Asturian mountains on the 181km 19th stage. A flat run along the coast was followed by a hilly finale and three categorized climbs inside the final 40km, the final one being the iconic Alto del Naranco which lead all the way to the finish.

As expected, the stage was off to an incredibly fast start. At the 2km mark, 18 riders slipped clear and they were later joined by another 2 to make up a very strong 20-rider group consisting of Benat Intxausti (Movistar), Georg Preidler (Argos-Shimano), Andriy Grivko (Astana), David Tanner (Belkin), Ivan Santaromita (BMC), Dominik Nerz (BMC), Danilo Wyss (BMC), David Arroyo (Caja Rural), Daniele Ratto (Cannondale), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Nico Sijmens (Cofidis), Pablo Urtasun (Euskaltel), Manuel Mori (Lampre), Francis De Greef (Lotto Belisol), Paul Voss (NetApp), Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE), Leigh Howard (Orica-GreenEDGE), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), Xabier Zandio (Sky) and Rafael Valls Ferri (Vacansoleil).

Katusha tries to close it down

Katusha had missed the break and started to chase. They were joined by Ag2r who hadn't anyone in the break either. The two teams were involved in a big fight with the break but the group gradually built up a 2-minute gap. However, the race never settled into a calm rhythm, and the riders covered 49,9km during the first hour.

Ag2r gave up and the gap reached its maximum at 2.30. When Omega Pharma-Quick Step joined Katusha on the front, the advantage started to come slightly down. At the 88km mark, Boasson Hagen and Preidler decided that they could do it better on their own and so left their companions behind them. They wuickly now built up a 1.50 gap on their former companions while the peloton gradually got close to the chasers who had very little cooperation.

The chase group splits up

The chasers kept attacking each other and finally Arroyo, Edet, Wyss, Voss, Grivko and Tanner got away from their companions. Mori and Valls Ferri bridged across and so an 8-rider chase group had formed.

The remaining escapees were all caught and Tanner suffered the same ill fate when he was dropped a few moments later. In the peloton, Katusha and Omega Pharma-Quick Step were still setting a fierce pace, Angel Vicioso, Dmitriy Kozontchuk, Vladimir Gusev, Vladimir Isaychev and Pieter Serry all taking turns on the front.

Edet in search of points

With 39km to go, the riders hit the bottom of the first categorized climb and Vicioso kept the pace high in the peloton. Several riders dropped off while the main group brought the gap to the chase group down to just 15 seconds.

With the peloton breathing down his neck, Edet attacked to pick up the final point on offer on the top of the climb, thus extending his lead in the mountains classification. On the descent, he fell back to his companions while Vicioso and Kozontchuk kept the pace high on the descent.

A new chase group is formed

With 22km to go, the riders hit a small uncategorized climb and at the bottom, Katusha caught the chase group. Dennis Vanendert (Lotto) launched an immediate counterattack and his acceleration spurred on a number of other riders to try similar moves.

Mikael Cherel (Ag2r), Serry, Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil), Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural), Serge Pauwels (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Luis Angel Mate (Cofidis) all got across and a little later Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), Mendes and Jose Herrada (Movistar) also joined the new chase group. Herrada went to the front and his fierce pace caused Vanendert to lose contact.

Caruso sets a fierce pace

In the peloton, Katusha sensed that things were getting out of control and so they put Giampaolo Caruso on the front. The Italian's fierce pace was enough for the peloton to splinter to pieces and at the top of the climb, he had brought the gap to the front group down to 1.47.

Astana accelerated furiously on the descent and the peloton split into several group. The pace briefly went down and several rider were allowed to rejoin before Caruso once again put the hammer down when they hit the penultimate climb.

Preidler attacks

The chase group split up on the climb and Herrada, Verdugo and Flecha all got across to the front dup. Pauwels also made it up to the leaders while Preidler attacked to take maximum points on the climb.

The Austrian decided to wait for his chasers while the two front groups merged, thus forming an 11-rider breakaway. The gap was down to 35 seconds but when Caruso disappeared from the front, the advantage went back up while Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) set a gentle pace on the descent.

Astana in control

Kenny Elissonde (FDJ) moved ahead with teammate Thibaut Pinot on his wheel, the Frenchman wanting to stay safe on the desecent, but Tiralongo was quickly back in control. Up ahead, there was no cohesion and so Mendes decided to go off on his own.

The Portuguese hit the bottom of the final climb with a solid gap. FDJ upped the pace on the lower  slopes with Anthony Roux giving it his all but he was overtaken by the Saxo-Tinkoff quartet of Oliver Zaugg, Chris Anker Sørensen, Rafal Majka and Roche. The Danish team set a hard pace on the first part of the climb and caused many riders to drop off.

Herrada the lone survivor from the chase group

Preidler and Boasson Hagen were both dropped from the chase group while Pauwels attacked. Verdugo and Herrada were the only ones to respond while the remainder of the group was caught.

Pauwels and Verdugo were both reabsorbed by the peloton which continued to be led by Sørensen while Herrada kept believing in his mission. A little later, Majka accelerated even further in the peloton and this was too much for Pinot who became the first big-name casualty of the day.

Roche launches his attack

Herrada was now dangling a few metres behind Mendes but just as he was about to close the gap, Majka brought everything back together. At the same time, they passed the flamme rouge and that was the signal for Roche to launch his attack.

Horner closed it down but the Irishman refused to give up. He was joined by Scarponi while Leopold König (NetApp) was now leading the peloton.

This was the right moment for Rodriguez who flew past Scarponi and Roche. Scarponi left his companion behind and for a long time he dangled in between the Katusha captain and the main group which was led by Valverde. A few hundred metres from the line Sanchez launched his acceleration and this caused the group to splinter, producing a change in race leadership.

Result:

1. Joaquim Rodriguez 4.16.13

2. Diego Ulissi +0.11

3. Daniel Moreno

4. Samuel Sanchez

5. Chris Horner +0.14

6. Alejandro Valverde

7. Michele Scarponi +0.16

8. Leopold König +0.20

9. Vincenzo Nibali

10. Nicolas Roche +0.23

General classification:

1. Chris Horner 77.56.05

2. Vincenzo Nibali +0.03

3. Alejandro Valverde +1.06

4. Joaquim Rodriguez +1.57

5. Nicolas Roche +3.49

6. Domenico Pozzovivo +6.00

7. Leopold König +6.38

8. Thibaut Pinot +7.02

9. Samuel Sanchez +7.45

10. Daniel Moreno +11.05

Points classification:

1. Alejandro Valverde 136

2. Nicolas Roche 122

3. Joaquim Rodriguez 117

4. Daniel Moreno 116

5. Chris Horner 106

Mountains classification:

1. Nicolas Edet 38

2. Daniele Ratto 30

3. Chris Horner 22

4. Amets Txurruka 22

5. Andre Cardoso 20

Combination classification:

1. Chris Horner 9

2. Nicolas Roche 13

3. Vincenzo Nibali 15

4. Alejandro Valverde 22

5. Joaquim Rodriguez 24

Teams classification:

1. Euskaltel 233.17.33

2. Movistar +5.44

3. Astana +7.56

4. Saxo-Tinkoff +9.48

5. Katusha +36.19