In rain-soaked Santander, top favorite Groves lives up to his reputation after thrilling finale

Wednesday was all about stage seventeen of the Vuelta a España, but the news was still dominated by Wout van Aert, who had already dropped out on Tuesday. Makes sense, given how much spectacle the Belgian Visma | Lease a Bike star had added to this Vuelta. Normally, Wednesday would have been a perfect course for Wout, but with his withdrawal, the focus shifted to riders like Groves, Strong and Mathias Vacek.

What kind of course were the riders presented with? After a predominantly flat opening phase, the 141-kilometer stage would feature two categorized climbs. First, the Alto de la Estranguada (5.5 kilometers at an average of 8.7 percent) followed directly by the Alto del Caracol (7.2 kilometers at an average of 6.2 percent). We could certainly describe these as tough climbs, but with seventy kilometers of descending or flat terrain coming up next, this still seemed like a last chance for the sprinters.

On paper, the stage could have followed many different scenarios, as breakaways also had good chances. Still, in the end, only four riders chose to break away. Jonas Gregaard (Lotto-Dstny), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels) formed the leading quartet. There were counterattacks, but unfortunately for those who tried, they were unsuccessful.

The quartet in front managed to build a maximum lead of five minutes, with Alpecin-Deceuninck (Groves) and dsm-firmenich PostNL (Bittner) holding the reins in the peloton, working together in a rather brotherly fashion. These two teams, indeed also featuring the top favorites for the day's victory, started a long day of chasing. It was a very wet day as well, as it was pouring rain in that part of Spain!

On the slopes of the Alto de la Estranguada and the Alto del Caracol, not much happened — apart from a few mechanical issues and some riders dropping back. Gregaard claimed the full points for the mountain classification twice, and that was about it. The peloton maintained a constant pace, and no one really got dropped, while the gap to the breakaway remained around five minutes.

After the second categorized climb was crested, there were still about seventy kilometers to go. The gap quickly shrank to four, three and soon two and a half minutes, all thanks to the efforts of the two teams who took charge. Entering the last thirty kilometers, the lead was down to two minutes, which meant the riders at the front were becoming increasingly vulnerable.

Also, phenomenon Pablo Castrillo (Equipo Kern Pharma) had by now done some solid turns at the front for sprinter Pau Miquel, causing the breakaway's lead to melt away like snow in the sun. Meanwhile, Victor Campenaerts had tried (as he had already announced) to attack from the peloton, once again — as we know he likes to do! — on a descending stretch. However, the rider transferring to Visma | Lease a Bike did not manage to make anything happen.

With two and a half kilometers to go, the breakaway riders were caught — well fought, gentlemen! — and we could prepare for a sprint in the streets of Santander. Right? There were some late attacks. Could they achieve anything at this stage? Among those who tried were the ultra-active Mauro Schmid (Jayco-AlUla) and Gijs Leemreize (dsm-firmenich PostNL), and of course, Campenaerts again! This attack had some bite!

Was the trio going to make it? With one kilometer to go, they had a ten-second lead to defend. In the peloton, the men of dsm-firmenich PostNL — who had been chasing all day — actually started blocking. In the last few hundred meters, the riders were caught after all, and it did come down to a sprint. Groves was ready to finish it off and did so, ahead of Bittner, who finished second. In the battle for the red jersey, not much changed.