Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) refused to go down without a fight and the Italian launched repeated attacks on the Alto de L'Angliru in one final attempt to win the Vuelta a Espana. At one point, the Italian saw Chris Horner suffering and believed it was possible to unseat the 41-year-old American.

Having been distanced three times in a row, one would have forgiven Vincenzo Nibali to accept his fate and settle for 2nd place in the Vuelta. However, the Italian is a fierce competitor and he carefully planned one final assault on the race lead of Chris Horner.

From the very beginning of the stage, his team was extremely attentive and made sure that the early break had the right composition. When 32 riders went up the road, the Kazakh team had Andriy Grivko, Jakob Fuglsang and Paolo Tiralongo in the move.

The former was caught on the descent from the penultimate climb Alto del Cordal and launched a fierce attack on the descent. However, Horner stayed firm and so Nibali had to make the difference on the uphill.

He attacked, attacked and attacked and always opened up a small gap on his rival but the American rode within himself and always got back on. Nibali asked teammates Fuglsang and Tiralongo to wait for him - despite the latter being in a potential winning position - and used them in an attempt to tire out Horner but nothing worked. In the end, the Radioshack captain dropped Nibali and sealed his overall win.

Nibali was proud of his performance but acknowledged that the strongest rider had won.

"We attacked on the descent to the final climb, because Andrei Grivko was ahead and I could go with him," he said. "We attacked on the Angliru because Paolo Tiralongo was ahead and I could go with him. Same with Jakob Fuglsang. But Horner was too strong, and despite all our efforts, he was the stronger rider today."

At one point Nibali thought he might have a chance to win the race.

"On the Angliru I attacked the first time just to test Horner's reaction, see if he had the legs to follow me," he said. "But as the climb continued and the finish line got closer I tried to attack again and again and again to beat him. At one point I looked over at him and saw how bad he was suffering and thought it might be possible…but I was suffering, too."

“I’ve tried everything I could," he added. "More than that, it was impossible. I’m happy because I’ve done the whole climb flat out and I knew I could count on my team-mates who were in the breakaway. It’s been a great battle on the Angliru. I was on a great shape but it’s normal that I gave in to Horner in the finale."

Despite only finishing 2nd overall, Nibali is happy with his race but admits that he possibly underestimated Horner.

"I’ve raced well at the Vuelta from stage 1 to now," he said. "It’s been a very hard Vuelta. I’ve honored the red jersey. Possibly at El Formigal (stage 16), I’ve underestimated Horner and he gained a few seconds, but I have to be realistic. I didn’t arrive at the Vuelta with the same condition I had at the Giro but I’ve done my best every day according to my physical possibilities. I’ve had great rivals: Horner, Valverde, Purito… They have put the rhythm of the Vuelta very high. I’m fine with the outcome. Winner of the Giro and second at the Vuelta: it’s pretty good.”

Team director Giuseppe Martinelli was proud of his team that had produced one of the most exciting races of the season.

"I'm impressed by our guys today," he said. "They raced with their brains as much as their legs, and they used every tool that was available to try and beat Horner. Nibali is a great champion and he rode a very strong Vuelta as a leader. We didn't win, but we did something tremendous out on Angliru today, and we can all be very proud of ourselves for this Vuelta."

The race comes to its conclusion with a parade stage to Madrid tomorrow. Staring at 15.00 CEST you can follow that stage on CyclingQuotes.com/live.