Tom Dumoulin won stage 9 of La Vuelta a España, a 168.3km stage from Torrevieja to Cumbre del Sol. Benitatxell that finished atop of the Alto de Puig Llorença. With this win, Dumoulin takes over the lead in the GC and now has a 57″ advantage on the runner-up.

Stage 9 featured the fourth summit finish of the Vuelta, this time atop the alto de Puig Llorença, a steep climb of 4km with gradients up to 19 percent. The 168.3km stage took the peloton from Torrevieja along the coast to finish in Benitatxell.

The break of the day was a large group of 14 riders, and Team Katusha provided most of the pacing in the bunch to control the gap. Toward the final climb the peloton broke apart and the gap was reduced to a minute.

Everything came back together at the bottom of the final climb. After multiple attacks at the front, Tom Dumoulin managed to escape from the lead group and get a small gap. Chris Froome (Sky) came past him in the last kilometer, but Dumoulin had enough left in the tank for a final surge to the finish line, allowing him to take the stage victory and the red jersey.

A delighted Tom Dumoulin said: “I felt very good during the stage, unlike yesterday when I did not have the best day, so I wasn’t really expecting it. But the stage worked out surprisingly well.

"Today I have no mixed feelings. The last time I had the red jersey, I was a little disappointed by my role in the finale to help John. Today I say thanks to the team.

"Yesterday was a bad day. I nearly gave up. I told myself this GC thing is not for me. But the team kept believing in me, they said you can do this. I just tried in the last climb and I really surprised myself there. I definitely got there.

"It's something I could never have imagined to happen in that Vuelta. It's just incredible. If someone had told me this two weeks ago, I would have said you're crazy. I'm really surprised and really happy.

"My tactic for the final climb was to attack on the flatter part and hang on on the steeper part. I could never have imagined that I could win a stage like this, but I’m in the form of my life.

I held back a little bit on the first steep part. Then when it got flat I just went for it and I managed quite a gap. I knew that the smaller riders would not drop me on the flatter parts. That was my plan.

"Then I finally got away but then Froome an Rodriguez caught me and again I thought that was over that his was not happening again today. But I also knew they had to make an effort to get back to me. I still used a lot of power. It showed in the last 100 metres that they were both tired. I had a little bit of energy left and I used it all to catch Froome and beat him on the line.

“I’m really happy with the first week and my form, as I didn’t know exactly what to expect at this Vuelta. I’m proud to be back in the leader’s jersey now, and I will see day by day how it goes from here. We are not on the big climbs yet, but my climbing is improving and I’m climbing well.

"I had no GC ambitions coming into this Vuelta. Now I'm nearly there on the top of the GC. It would be stupid to let it go. We'll have to see in the big mountains. They're coming up. We'll see how that goes. I'm going to try and hang on to this jersey and defend it as a team.

"My sports director didn't imagine me winning this ! Normally I would say yes [I will lose time in Andorra]. But you see, doing this today, I'm just going to give it a go there and we'll see.

"It has not been an advantage in my season [to crash in the Tour. But doing this is quite special. Definitely, with my shape compared to the others, it's been an advantage clearly.

"I was involved in the crash. I broke my bike and I finished on my spare bike. I had nothing. There was a lot of sidewind and I think two Movistar riders touched wheels, maybe Valverde. I don't know exactly."

Coach Christian Guiberteau added: “It is an amazing win. This is really unbelievable. Yesterday he didn’t have his best day and had some doubts as well, which is normal after a week of racing in a Grand Tour. We talked to him this morning and he was really motivated again to redeem himself.

“During the stage he was strong and had great support from the team. After the first climb there were still three guys left to help him. On the final climb he attacked three or four times and eventually won the stage.

“It’s a great feeling having the leader’s jersey back in the team. It’s fantastic that we can defend it in a Grand Tour. There are some hard mountain stages coming up, and we’ll have to see what we can achieve and take it day by day, just as we’ve done so far.”