Aru poised for Vuelta triumph after Dumoulin cracks (Reuters)

Fabio Aru all but secured a debut grand tour triumph when he left overnight leader Tom Dumoulin floundering on the third ascent of Saturday’s penultimate stage to surge into the lead ahead of Sunday’s ceremonial ride into Madrid. Barring a crash on the 21st and final stage, Italian Aru (Astana), who is one minute and 17 seconds ahead of second-placed Joaquim Rodriguez of Spain (Katusha), is poised to go one better than his second-placed finish behind Alberto Contador at this year’s Giro d’Italia. Poland’s Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) is third overall, 12 seconds behind Rodriguez, with Colombian Movistar rider Nairo Quintana a further 33 seconds back in fourth.