Having ridden a mostly anonymous race, Chris Horner made his mark on the final mountain of the Tour de France when he kicked off the action by attacking on the Hautacam. The American had hoped that his Vuelta rival Vincenzo Nibali would have waited a little longer before launching his own attack.

Chris Horner went into the Tour de France a bit short on form but has used the race to build condition for his Vuelta a Espana title defence. Today the American proved that he is getting better when he launched the first attack on the Hautacam.

Only Vincenzo Nibali responded to his acceleration and later the race leader left his American Vuelta rival behind. Nonetheless, Horner was pleased with his performance that allowed him to move into 17th in the overall standings.

"I was aware that Nibali wanted to win the stage, so his team would controlall the breakaways inthe first part of the race," he said. "It would have been risky to attack before the final climb. That's why I preferred to wait until the Hautacam climb to try my action.

"11km from the finish, the conditions were good to try an attack. I got a good gap and only Nibali could follow me.

"I knew it would be very hard to follow him. Vincenzo is in an amazing condition but I still tried to hold on. I hoped he would wait a little before launching his own attack but actually he did not wait too much. When Vincenzo left me behind, I had to manage my energy."