On Saturday, Kaden Groves surpassed Wout van Aert to claim the 14th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, marking the Australian’s second win of the current contest. His fellow countryman, Ben O’Connor preserved his leading position in the overall race.
The most protracted leg of the race, a 200.5km journey from Villafranca Del Bierzo to Villablino, concluded in a group sprint. The cyclist from Alpecin-Deceuninck beat Van Aert, who had been aiming to secure his fourth stage victory.
Corbin Strong of New Zealand, who cycles for Israel-Premier Tech, finished third. This replicated the results of the second stage, in which Groves had previously edged out Van Aert.
Eddie Dunbar of team Jayco Alula completed the stage at 41st place, with Darren Rafferty from EF Education-Easypost not far behind at 59th. Dunbar maintained his 18th position in the overall standings, whilst Rafferty’s performance allowed him to climb three places to 81st.
Groves expressed surprise that the day ended in a sprint, attributing the day’s progression to the control of team Visma. He praised the thrill of racing against Van Aert.
O’Connor, representing Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, held onto the red leader jersey, keeping a lead of one minute and 21 seconds over Slovenian Primoz Roglic from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Roglic encountered technical difficulties in the closing stages and was forced to borrow teammate Daniel Martinez’s bike. However, he managed to recover in time for the end of the race.
The race also saw an early breakaway group of six riders, but they were efficiently managed by the main group and were caught on the final ascent prior to the sprint finish.
The 15th stage scheduled for Sunday is a journey covering 143km from Infiesto to Valgrande-Pajares. (Source: Reuters)