Pokhara
The 141.5km 17th stage proves to be a historic day for Australian cycling, with three riders leading three different standings as Groves leading the charge in superb fashion.
SANTANDER, Spain: Kaden Groves has earned his third stage win of this year’s Spanish Vuelta, and fellow Australian Ben O’Connor maintained his narrow overall lead over Primož Roglič.
Stage 17 proved a historic day for Australian cycling, with three riders leading three different standings and it finished in superb fashion.
Groves clinched his seventh career Vuelta stage victory on the final sprint of a rainy day on Wednesday in which riders completed 141.5 km from Arnuero to a relatively flat finish in Santander.
He dominated a thrilling finale coming home ahead of Pavel Bittner of DSM-Firmenich-PostNL and Vito Braet of Intermarché-Wanty.
ARNUERO, Spain: Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert did not sustain any fractures in his crash at the Spanish Vuelta but will still need intensive care to treat a knee wound, his team has said.
The three-time stage winner withdrew from the race on Tuesday while wearing the green jersey as top sprinter. Van Aert also led the mountains standings when he was among three riders that crashed during a descent about 50 km from the finish of stage 16.
He was then taken to hospital and his Visma–Lease a Bike said on Wednesday that he had “severe knee pain caused by a deep wound. That wound requires intensive care.” Van Aert won three of the first 10 stages of the race. The 29-year-old Belgian will travel back home to continue his recovery, the team said.
“It started dry and then the finish was wet so it made it quite dangerous as well,” said Groves, who also won the second and the 14th stages of this edition.
“We only caught the attackers in the final kilometre,” the Alpecin–Deceuninck rider added. “There are only a few sprint stages in this race and the rest are mountain stages so the intermediate riders really have to try on days like today. But the team was super motivated to control attackers all day and to repay them with victory No. 3 is pretty special.”
Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale survived a rainy day to hold on to La Roja, while Jay Vine of UAE Team Emirates held on to the polka-dot jersey.
O’Connor and Roglič finished together and the gap between the two remained at five seconds entering the decisive stages and the weekend finish in Madrid.
“It was a bit wet, not too hard, a little treacherous on the descents, but it wasn’t too complicated in the end,” O’Connor said. “We’ve done a lot riding so far in this race so it was good for the boys to have a bit of a break, it was much needed. Tomorrow, break management will probably have to be a lot more proactive but it should normally be an easier finish.”
Stage 18 on Thursday will be a 179.5-km mid-mountain ride with a category-one climb that has the potential to eliminate the sprinters from the peloton. (AP)
