Tom Dumoulin raced to victory in stage 17 of the Vuelta a España, a time trial of 38.7km, taking his second win of the Vuelta and retaking the race lead.

Stage 17 of the Vuelta was an individual time trial of 38.7km around the city of Burgos. Dumoulin was the fastest on the rolling parcours, with a time of 46’01” and an average pace of 50.5km/h.

His strong performance today lifted him into the lead in the general classification of the Vuelta.

“I am very happy with this victory and with taking the red jersey again,” said Dumoulin . “My legs were great and I was able to concentrate on my performance. I wasn’t thinking about the intermediates, just focusing on my own effort to see what it would bring.

"I felt good. I had a good feeling.I was very focused I had some really good legs and mentally I was in a good place, it made a difference really today.

"I did not know what to expect exactly before the time trial. I was not thinking about expectations, I did not have strong expectations in terms of winning the stage or in terms of time gaps. I won it and at the finish line I had no indications until I learnt that Aru was three seconds behind in GC. That’s very close, it’s going to be a hell of a fight.

“I have been feeling better by the day, and even now I am still feeling relatively fresh. There are still some difficult days to come, though, which will mean a good show for the fans. There are some important competitors close behind me in the GC, and I hope they will attack each other as well.

"For the spectators it will be quite a show but for me it is going to be something different. They will try to get me out of this jersey and they’re probably going to try to surprise me. We will have to be ready as a team. But first we have to celebrate this and then make a good plan for the coming days. I don’t know the climbs.

"I’ve been feeling better and better in the last days. I had some problems after the Andorra stage but not much happened in GC and I felt that the peloton was tired anyway.

"Of course other riders would like to get onto the podium, I would imagine Majka will attack to end up on the podium and that Purito will not be happy about it. That should play in my favour. But I have to keep a close eye on Aru because three seconds is nothing.

"It pretty much came up by surprise but I had done two grand tours already and I had been feeling quite good in the third week. It shows I can handle some difficult days but I never thought I would recover so well while fighting for GC every day.

“The Vuelta is already a success for me and the team with two stage wins. And we will do our best to make it even better.”

Coach Addy Engels added: “This is super and we are really happy. It was a perfect time trial on a parcours that suited Tom as a specialist. Technically he did an awesome job, which was just enough for the leader’s jersey.

“He was motivated and managed the mental side well. The general classification is still close; we had hoped for a little more margin.

“It will be big fight and a challenge with three difficult stages ahead of us and the differences in the general classification this small. We have to be 100 percent focused and alert.”

"At 11 am the crowd was already surroudning him, we had to protect him," sports director Christian Guiberteau said. "It was also a new mental challenge for him and he passed it. He managed to stay in his bubble. We confirmed with a very good TT.

"Some said he’d gain 2-3 minutes, on paper, but in the third week of a grand tour there is a lot of fatigue and Aru is quite a rider, he fought very well. The Vuelta is far from over. »