Cycling-Dumoulin takes stage and overall lead in Vuelta

MADRID, Aug 30 (Reuters) - Dutchman Tom Dumoulin won the ninth stage of the Vuelta, prevailing in a punishing uphill finish to claim the overall leader's red jersey on Sunday. The Giant-Alpecin rider attacked in the final climb, a 4km ascent with an average gradient over 10 percent, and pipped Chris Froome inside the final 100 metres after the Briton had also attacked. Team Sky rider Froome, the Tour de France champion, was second ahead of Spain's Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha). Colombian Estabena Chaves (Orica-GreenEDGE) was dropped in the final climb and now lies third overall, 59 seconds behind Dumoulin. Rodriguez is second, 57 seconds off the pace, while Froome, who regained some ground he had lost two days ago, moved up to seventh 1:17 behind Dumoulin after 168.3 km between Torrevieja and El Poble Nou de Benitatxell. Slovakian Peter Sagan, who won the points classification at the Tour de France, did not start the stage after he sustained deep bruises when he was knocked down by an organisers' motorbike on Saturday. "If I had crashed alone or with another rider, I would have considered that to be part of the sport," the Tinkoff-Saxo rider said. "However, being hit by a motorbike of the race organisation shouldn't be acceptable. The safety of the riders should be an absolute priority and all vehicle drivers involved in a race must be more attentive. I really hope this incident is the start of a series of necessary changes in the way races are organised." (Writing by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ed Osmond)