Summary Rodriguez used an explosive burst of speed to get his first stage victory of this edition.
OVIEDO (AP) - American veteran Christopher Horner took the lead of the Spanish Vuelta in a mountainous 19th stage won by Joaquim Rodriguez on Friday.
Entering the day three seconds behind overnight leader Vincenzo Nibali, the 41-year-old Horner pulled away from the Giro d Italia champion over the final meters of the uphill ascent to the finish line to claim a three-second lead with just two days to go.
Rodriguez used an explosive burst of speed to get his first stage victory of this edition with a winning time of more than four hours.
The penultimate stage is a 142-kilometer (88-mile) course that takes riders over three major summits before a last ascent of a special-category climb to the Alto de l Angliru peak before the traditional finish in Madrid on Sunday.
