Dutchman Tom Dumoulin mounted a late surge that doubled his slender Vuelta a Espana advantage over closest rival Fabio Aru of Italy to six seconds after the 19th stage won by Frenchman Alexis Gougeard on Friday.
Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin), a surprise contender at this year’s Vuelta, now has just one more competitive stage to negotiate before Sunday’s ceremonial finish into Madrid, a mountainous 176-km slog between San Lorenzo de El Escorial and Cercedilla on Saturday.
The 24-year-old from Maastricht, who claimed the leader’s red jersey with a scorching time trial on Wednesday, is close to a debut grand tour triumph but is sure to come under sustained pressure from Aru and his Astana team.
“I attacked to try to win a few more seconds,” Dumoulin, who along with Aru was involved in a minor crash earlier in the stage, told reporters.
“I am feeling very good,” he added. “I was under stress because everyone wanted to attack me but I dealt with it well.
“Tomorrow will be an exciting day when a lot of things could happen. My strategy will be to follow Aru and I will have to see with the team directors if there is any more we can do.
“But my team is better than many people think and I hope they can show that.”
Gougeard (AG2R) broke away to finish Friday’s 186-km ride into the walled city of Avila 40 seconds ahead of Nelson Oliveira of Portugal (Lampre) in second, with Belgium’s Maxime Monfort (Lotto) a further four seconds behind in third.
In the general classification, Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain (Katusha) is nearly one and a half minutes behind Dumoulin in third and Poland’s Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) more than two and a half minutes adrift in fourth. (Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Alan Baldwin)
Stage 19 Brief Results:
- Alexis Gougeard (France / AG2R) 4:19:20″
- Nelson Oliveira (Portugal / Lampre) +40″
- Maxime Monfort (Belgium / Lotto) +44″
- Andrey Amador (Costa Rica / Movistar)
- Tiago Machado (Portugal / Katusha)
- Amael Moinard (France / BMC Racing)
- Fabio Duarte (Colombia / Colombia) +53″
- David Arroyo (Spain / Caja Rural) +1:03″
- Christian Knees (Germany / Team Sky) +1:17″
- Francisco Ventoso (Spain / Movistar)
General Classification After Stage 19:
- Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands / Giant) 78:20:51″
- Fabio Aru (Italy / Astana) +6″
- Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) +1:24″
- Rafal Majka (Poland / Tinkoff – Saxo) +2:31″
- Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +3:02″
- Alejandro Valverde (Spain / Movistar) +3:24″
- Esteban Chaves (Colombia / Orica) +3:39″
- Daniel Moreno (Spain / Katusha) +3:46″
- Mikel Nieve (Spain / Team Sky) +4:19″
- Louis Meintjes (South Africa / Team MTN) +7:00″