Stage 19

The road

At the start

Two hundred and thirty-seven kilometres

Vincenzo Nibali carries a 38-second lead over Ezequiel Mosquera into the longest stage of the race, 237 kilometres over the Sierra de Gredos and down to Toledo. With the Bola del Mundo tomorrow, the overall men will happily let this one go up the road. But Toledo is a hard city to arrive in with a bunch behind you, and 38 seconds can come apart there as easily as on a mountain.

How it was won

1. 1210 km to go

   Martínez keeps the mountains alive

   Over the Sierra de Gredos, Serafín Martínez beats David Moncoutié to the summit and keeps the climbers' competition open for one more day. As the bunch crests it Dominik Roels jumps away with Josep Jufré and the day's break is born.

2. 2137 km to go

   Cancellara climbs off

   The break has ten minutes and Liquigas are patrolling a peloton that has already stopped caring. The only drama of the afternoon is the world time trial champion abandoning the race.

3. 313 km to go

   Thirteen kilometres out, and it opens up

   The four leaders are swallowed and the attacks begin: Barredo, then Cataldo, then Luis León Sánchez on a sharp climb five kilometres from the line, with Nicolas Roche chasing across and Gilbert and Nibali sitting in the wheels.

4. 41 km to go

   Gilbert rips it open

   The bunch rattles across cobbles a kilometre and a half out and gaps appear. Then, on the drag to the line with 500 metres left, Philippe Gilbert stands up and simply tears clear of a peloton already at full speed. Only Tyler Farrar can react, and Farrar never gets a centimetre of him.

5. 5At the line

   A second for Gilbert, twelve for Nibali

   Gilbert wins Toledo by a second from Farrar. Behind them the red jersey, parked near the front all the way in, comes home sixth — and Ezequiel Mosquera does not, caught the wrong side of the split. Twelve seconds, and Nibali goes to the last mountain fifty clear.

The result