Australian Kaden Groves won the 17e stage of the Tour of Spain by winning the last chance for sprinters to shine on Wednesday in Santander.
At the finish of this so-called “transition” stage disrupted by rainy weather making the roads slippery, the rider from the Alepcin-Deceuninck team beat the Czech Pavel Bittner and the Belgian Vito Braet in a sprint after 142 km from Arnuero.
Australian Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale team Ben O’Connor has retained the lead in the general classification, still five seconds ahead of Slovenian Primoz Roglic on the eve of the 18the stage (179.5 km) connecting Vitoria-Gasteiz to Maeztu-Parque Natural de Izki in the Basque Country on a route that should inspire adventurers.
Groves won his third race, the 7the of his career in the Vuelta. Since the withdrawal on Tuesday of the Belgian Wout Van Aert, victim of a heavy fall, he is now the favorite in the race for the green jersey of best sprinter.
‘Quiet’ day for O’Connor
“It was a tough day in the rain, it was dangerous towards the end but my team was great,” Groves explained.
“We had to counter the attackers [dans les derniers kilomètres]which was not easy after all the efforts made during the day. It was my last opportunity to win this Vuelta before the last stages [accidentée] ” he added.
A quartet that started at the start of the stage was ahead of the peloton for a long time, but never by enough to hope to win.
The French Thomas Champion and Thibault Guernalec, the Dane Jans Greegad and the Spaniard Xavie Isasa were caught three kilometers from the line.
Some riders, including Belgian finisher Victor Campenaerts, tried to attack to avoid a massive final crash but this was inevitable due to the work of the sprinters’ teams.
The fight for the red jersey remains undecided, with Ben O’Connor only five seconds ahead of Primoz Roglic while Spaniard Enric Mas (3e at 1 min 25) or the Colombian Richard Carapaz (4e at 1 min 46) remain on the lookout while two (medium) mountain stages and a time trial still feature on the programme of this Vuelta before the finish on Sunday in Madrid.
“The day [de mercredi] was rather quiet. But tomorrow, even if we are talking about a transition stage again, we will surely have to control the race more because of probable breakaways but the final suits me rather well,” indicated the red jersey.