Saturday 12 September 2015 19:31, UK
Tom Dumoulin admitted the Vuelta a Espana has been “one day too long” after his challenge for overall victory collapsed on stage 20.
The Giant-Alpecin rider led second-placed Fabio Aru by six seconds going into the penultimate day, but he cracked on the third of four category-one climbs and fell to sixth place overall after losing between 3min 52sec and 4min 48sec to his closest rivals.
The 24-year-old Dutchman has performed well beyond expectation during the Vuelta but said his form had deserted him on what was effectively the final day of racing given that Sunday's 21st stage is largely ceremonial.
Dumoulin said: "It was too much today. I fought for all I was worth. I kept on fighting for the podium or top five and went full on to the finish, but there was nothing left in the tank. I was out of energy and it was one day too long."
Dumoulin was dropped when Aru attacked just shy of the summit of stage 20's penultimate climb but initially held his deficit at 20 seconds on the descent down the other side.
However, while Dumoulin was left to soldier on alone, Aru was joined by several Astana team-mates and other general classification contenders, and as a group they pulled away easily from the wilting race leader.
Aru went on to claim the red jersey and will seal overall victory as long as he avoids crashing on Sunday.
Dumoulin added: "After the first attack by Aru I had difficulties countering him and closing the gap. I was on the limit. When he went again it was over and there was a gap at the summit.
"I almost came back on the descent after the next-to-last climb. Too bad the descent wasn't more technical, because on technique I could have come back.
"In the valley Astana pulled with three guys and I knew it was over. I was able to counter the attacks on the previous stages, but today I was unable to."
