Dumoulin doubles Vuelta lead over Aru to six seconds

MADRID (Reuters) - Dutchman Tom Dumoulin mounted a late surge that doubled his slender Tour of Spain 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)