VILLABLINO, Spain: Kaden Groves of Australia has won his second stage at the Spanish Vuelta while countryman Ben O’Connor kept his diminished race lead over Primoz Roglic.

The Alpecin Deceuninck rider sprinted to beat Wout Van Aert on Saturday to claim Stage 14, a hilly 200-km ride from Villafranca del Bierzo to Villablino in northwest Spain, in 4 hours, 21 minutes. Groves, who had won Stage 2, has six career wins in the Spanish Grand Tour.

Despite a challenging first-category climb, the stage culminated in a mass sprint. Controlling the peloton in the final kilometres, the Alpecin-Deceuninck team successfully delivered Groves the stage win. DSM-Firmenich PostNL tried to set up Pavel Bittner for a strong finish, but the gradient favoured Groves and Van Aert, the two fastest finishers.

Groves launched his sprint 150 meters from the line, with Van Aert in close pursuit. Although Van Aert fought hard for a fourth-stage win, he couldn’t match Groves’ power, finishing just shy of victory.

Groves reflected on the stage, saying, “It feels amazing. I didn’t expect such a hard sprint, but Visma controlled it well. Facing Wout one-on-one was incredible. The team did a fantastic job, especially Edward with the lead-out, and I’m pleased with my sprint.”

Roglic has reduced O’Connor’s lead over recent stages, cutting it from nearly five minutes to 1:21 after making more gains on Friday’s mountain stage.

But the three-time Vuelta winner had to change bikes due to a technical issue while descending a category-one climb shortly before the finish. That ensured no change among the top challengers.

Sunday could be an important day in the three-week race. Riders face a mountainous 143-km jaunt over three peaks to a special-category summit finish atop Cuitu Negru.

The race finishes in Madrid on September 8. (AP)