Back-to-back stage wins for Kaden Groves at La Vuelta

Australian sprinter Kaden Groves hoped his stage 4 victory wouldn’t be his only one of this year’s La Vuelta, and he didn’t have to wait long to secure his second win of the Spanish Grand tour.

The Queenslander, who rides for Alpecin-Deceuninck, made it back-to-back wins at La Vuelta on stage 5 edging out Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and Dries Van Gestel (Total Energies) on the line.

"It’s a fantastic feeling, the second win of this Vuelta, and two in a row, it’s a great feeling especially doing it with the green jersey," Groves said.

It was another hectic finish, with a crash within the last 3km seeing three of Groves’ team mates go down.

“At the end, it was a pretty hectic final today, similar to yesterday but without climbing. The wind made it quite nervous but my team was fantastic again.

“We lost three guys in a crash with 2.5km to go but luckily my leadout was still there and we could organise for the final.”

It was a nervous start for the peloton for the 186km stage from Morella, with crosswinds having the potential to turn the race upside down on the way to a seaside finish in Burriana.

Groves also secured bonus points at the intermediate sprint for the points classification.

“[Remco Evenepoel] wanted the time bonus in the intermediate sprint and I agreed with the team not to go for it, but in the end I thought I could get points without spending too much energy, so I took second which is also good for the classification,” Groves said.

His win in Burriana (Valencia), is Groves’ third La Vuelta victory and is the 20th for an Australian rider in La Vuelta. He joins Michael Matthews as the best Aussie scorers in the Spanish Grand Tour (with three victories each).

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) leads the general classification heading into a mountain showdown up the Alto de Javalambre.

Main photo: Sprint Cycling Agency