Froome storms to time trial victory as he closes in on Vuelta

MADRID (Reuters) - Chris Froome stormed to victory in stage 16's individual time trial on Tuesday, adding to a nearly insurmountable overall lead of almost two minutes in the Vuelta a Espana.

The Team Sky rider completed the 40.2-km run from Circuito de Navarra to Logrono in 47 minutes, making 57 seconds on his main tour rival, Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali, whom he now leads by 1:58, and finishing 29 seconds ahead of second-placed Dutchman Wilco Kelderman, of Team Sunweb.

Briton Froome is bidding to become the first rider for 39 years to win the Tour de France and the Vuelta in the same season.

This display recalled Froome's sensational performance in the 2011 time trial at the Vuelta, where he stunned team leader Bradley Wiggins by taking the red jersey in Salamanca.

Italian Daniel Oss had set the early running but young German rider Lennard Kaemna beat his time before being usurped by Sweden’s Tobias Ludvigsson, who lost his water bottle in the first 10km but still crossed the line in 48:07.23.

Veteran rider Alberto Contador, in the final time trial of his career, set a new lead time of 47:59.82, delighting his fans at Logrono and moving to fifth in the overall rankings, before Froome's resounding victory.

(Reporting by Rik Sharma; Editing by Clare Fallon)