Feisty Doumolin adds an extra two seconds to his Vuelta lead in Avila

Tom Doumoulin launched a late attack to extend his lead of the Vuelta de Espana cycle race by a precious 2 seconds over second place Fabio Aru to add drama to the end of the 19th stage of the three week race.

Although the two seconds may not make too much difference with four first category climbs to be surmounted on Saturday, the Dutch rider has handed a psychological blow to the man who is chasing hot on his heels.

With just three seconds separating Dumoulin from second placed Aru before the stage began, this is the closest grand tour since the 1989 Vuelta and with most of the fireworks looking likely for Saturday's decisive mountain stage, the stage was always set for a breakaway on Friday which took the race from Medina del Campo to Avila.

Both Dumoulin and Aru were involved in a fall early in the stage and Aru needed some medical attention before resuming at the front of the main group, which was chasing a breakaway of 24 riders who opened a 16 minute gap.

That break splintered inside the last 40km with 22-year-old Alexis Gougeard (Agre2LeMondale) riding clear and demolishing the tough penultimate kilometre which was a stiff climb over cobbled stones, to claim the biggest win of his career 40 seconds ahead of his pursuers, who in turn were 16 minutes ahead of the main peloton.

16 minutes later Dumoulin showed his form as he made Aru suffer, but the destiny of this year's race now depends on whether Aru can respond in the high mountains on Saturday. Endit