Stage 20

The road

At the start

The Bola del Mundo, fifty seconds

Fifty seconds separate Vincenzo Nibali from Ezequiel Mosquera, and one climb is left to settle them. The stage crosses the Cruz Verde and the Navacerrada and then, instead of dropping into Madrid, turns off the pass onto three kilometres of concrete laid for the transmitter masts above it. Mosquera has been the best climber in this race for a fortnight; Nibali, third at the Giro, has never won a Grand Tour.

How it was won

1. 1163 km to go

   Eighteen go, and two of them matter

   A huge move goes clear after fourteen kilometres with Gilbert, Tschopp, Hoste and Hondo in it — and David Arroyo and Rubén Plaza, which is why it never gets more than four minutes. Katusha ride the front all day to make sure of it.

2. 251 km to go

   Plaza and Tschopp over the Navacerrada

   Iñigo Cuesta attacks first and is caught; it is Plaza and Tschopp who lead the race over the Puerto de Navacerrada with fifty kilometres left. On the descent the break comes back together and then splinters again as Xacobeo drag the peloton up behind them.

3. 35 km to go

   Nibali is left alone

   Pujol and Txurruka go with five kilometres to ride and Schleck goes just after them. None of it sticks, but it lifts the pace and thins the front group until the red jersey has not one teammate left. Mosquera notices.

4. 43 km to go

   The concrete road

   Mosquera accelerates and Nibali gets onto the wheel, and then the road turns onto the narrow concrete ramp to the summit and it becomes a prize fight — a second opened, a second clawed back, the Spanish crowd waving their man upward while the Italian wobbles and hauls himself level again and again on the steepest pitches.

5. 5At the line

   Mosquera's head drops

   A few hundred metres below the summit at 2,247 metres, Mosquera looks and understands. His head goes down, the speed goes out of him, and Nibali closes to his wheel knowing the Vuelta is his.

6. 6At the line

   One second, and forty-one

   Mosquera crosses the Bola del Mundo a second in front and Nibali crosses it forty-one seconds ahead overall — a stage result later annulled, so the record shows no winner at the top of this mountain. What it does show is that the Vuelta was decided here, and not in Mosquera's favour.

The result