photo creedits @ La Vuelta
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) increased his tally to three in this year’s Vuelta a España, after the Australian rider claimed stage 17 in Santander today.
The day’s breakaway group was eventually reined in during the final three kilometers, with several riders including Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny) commencing late attacks in the final few hundred meters. But, Groves opened his acceleration to hold-off Pavel Bittner (DSM-firmenich PostNL) and Vito Braet (Intermarché-Wanty) to clench the stage honors.
Meanwhile, Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and his principal GC rival Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished safely in the peloton, with O’Conner continuing to lead his Slovenian rival by just five seconds, while Enric Mas (Movistar) remains in third overall at 1:25.
Race Highlights
With two climbs on the agenda in a short 141.5km test in north-west Spain, the race was animated with an early attack by French duo Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Spain’s Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Denmark’s Jonas Gregaard (Lotto Dstny).
After a counter-move was swept up, the quartet’s lead quickly grew to above four minutes ahead of the first of those successive second-category ascents, where Isasa found himself off the back even before the gradient ramped up to an almost comedic 21%.
Gregaard led the leaders over the top of the Alto de la Estranguada before Champion was held up by an issue with his chain. Both he and Isasa were able to fight back into contention, though, in time for the Alto del Caracol, where Gregaard doubled up over the summit.
With the climbs finished, the race now entered its endgame with the four escapees holding an advantage of four-and-a-half minutes over the pack ahead of the largely flat run into Santander. Some heavy rain and a couple of spiky hills made the chase challenging, but the gap gradually came down as Alpecin-Deceuninck, DSM and Kern Pharma combined on the front
With the advantage dropping under the minute mark with 20km to go, Campenaerts put in the first of his accelerations. Whether this was to break clear or disrupt the chase to aid his team-mate Gregaard up the road remained unclear.
But the Belgian powerhouse clearly fancied his chances for he was an ever-present force near the front as the peloton powered towards Santander while closing in on what was now a trio ahead following Champion’s implosion as the rain pounded down.
Just as the riders in the break were sitting up inside the final three kilometers, Schmid made a move that was quickly covered by Bittner’s DSM teammate Leijnse, while Campenaerts then bridged over.
But, ultimately, the finish kept to the script. Belgium’s Xandro Meurisse did enough to reel in the leaders before handing over the reins to fellow Belgian Edward Planckaert, who led out teammate Groves to a third win to complete Alpecin’s strong day in the office
Planckaert punched both hands in the air in celebration of Groves’s victory as he crossed the line to take seventh place behind the battling Campenaerts.
Groves now has over double the points tally of his nearest rival Bittner in the green jersey standings, which until recently were being led so emphatically by Van Aert.
The focus now shifts back to the red jersey of O’Connor as the Vuelta enters its final decisive phase, with the Australian holding a five-second lead over the triple champion Roglič and a 1’25” lead over Spain’s three-time runner-up Mas.
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