The whole lead group looked at Groves in the final kilometer: "But I absolutely did not want to take the lead"

That Kaden Groves would win the final stage of the Vuelta a España was in line with expectations. However, the fact that he would do it from an early breakaway was a complete surprise. The Australian from Alpecin-Deceuninck had his eyes constantly on Remco Evenepoel, who could still take the green jersey. When the Belgian made his move, Groves had no choice but to follow. Then chaos ensued.

A leading group of six men formed, with Evenepoel, Groves, Filippo Ganna, Rui Costa, Nico Denz and Lennard Kämna. All six are strong riders who took their turns at the front. As a result, the teams in the peloton were more than happy to hold back, making it difficult for the main group to catch up. "We wanted to go for the stage and keep the green jersey, but to do that from a breakaway... that was certainly not my intention," Groves said in a flash interview.

When Evenepoel made his move, Groves had little choice. "I already expected that Remco would try to win the stage today. Since he could still win the green jersey, I had to keep an eye on him. When he accelerated, I was fortunately able to rely on Edward (Planckaert, ed) to bring me back to Remco."

Groves: "That Remco went so early worked in my favor"

Groves was the man with the fastest sprint among the six leaders. In the finale, the other five guys were therefore mainly looking at him. Groves, however, did not let himself be provoked. "It was a very interesting finale. I didn't want to take the lead in the final kilometer because I knew I would sprint less well, but then the whole peloton suddenly came back. Fortunately, I was able to find that last bit of extra energy in the sprint and when Remco already started sprinting with still five hundred meters to go, I had a great advantage."

This is Groves' third stage win in the Tour of Spain this year. "And that's quite special. I want to thank my team enormously for that. This month was very important for us and we really prepared for this together. The win in three stages, plus the win in the points classification, is truly a victory for the entire team."