Cycling unfolded all its beauty and drama in la Vuelta’s Stage 20 up the epic climb of L’Angliru. Needing only three seconds to re-claim the red jersey, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) threw everything he had at race leader Chris Horner, but the 41-year-old American showed he could take a punch, or rather a continuous series of punches, and emerged from the clouds victorious.

The 37-seconds Horner now holds are enough to claim the overall victory in Madrid on Sunday.

Horner reflected on the day’s action and relished the beauty of the epic struggle created by Nibali’s aggressive riding. 

“At my age I do not need to wait until tomorrow to let this sink in. I understand how beautiful it is. I love how big a fight Nibali brought to this and how hard and to such a dark place I had to dig to win this race,” Horner reflected on the RSL website. 

Nibali attacked Horner on no less than six occasions, each time accelerating away and creating a gap. “I had to go back to what works best for me. It took me a moment to realize as he kept attacking me that I needed to stick with what worked for me at the beginning and remind myself it would work for me again at the end. Finally I had to bring the power up as high as possible all the way to the end so he wouldn’t have one moment to recover. Any time he could recover even just a little bit, he had time to accelerate. I made that mistake the first few times before I went to the front and set my own tempo.” 

Nibali eventually crumbled before the 1km to go banner and Horner rode his pace to the finish to claim second place behind stage winner Kenny Elissonde (FDJ).

Horner continued: “I knew how hard today would be and how much suffering I was in for. Nibali was amazing. To win here among such great champions such as Nibali and Valverde and Rodriguez means so much to me. To have those guys around me in this victory is incredible. To see Nibali attack so many times had to be so exciting for the fans of cycling. They must have been on the edge of their seats! It was a legendary moment I think to see someone of my age win a Grand Tour. I hope all of you enjoyed every pedal stroke and enjoyed my suffering and love it the same way I did. For every moment I suffered, I hope the fans truly enjoyed it.”

On Sunday the peloton puts in a mostly ceremonial ride into Madrid.  After 21 stages, 11 summit finishes and more than 81 hours of racing, American Chris Horner at 41 years - 11 months will be crowned the winner of the 68th la Vuelta.