Italian Fabio Aru is on the verge of sealing his first Grand Tour win after he moved into the lead of Spain’s Vuelta on Saturday with just Sunday’s parade around Madrid to come.
Spain’s Ruben Plaza won the 175.8km stage from San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla thanks to a remarkable solo breakaway ride from 114km out, ahead of Portugal’s Jose Goncalves and Italian Alessandro de Marchi respectively.
Aru started the day six seconds behind Tom Dumoulin, but the Dutch rider finally cracked on the four category one climbs on the penultimate stage as his hopes of even a place on the podium were ended.
Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez is now second overall ahead of Poland’s Rafal Majka in third. – Agence France-Presse
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