🚴🇪🇸 | Olá! Op papier een ideale dag voor een kopgroep. Al telt de werkelijke kopgroep slechts zes (hele sterke) renners. Wie controleert er in het peloton? Visma | Lease a Bike voor Wout van Aert 🟢🟢 #LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max
Visma | Lease a Bike plan disintegrates into thousands of pieces: Groves delivers painful defeat to Van Aert
CyclingSaturday, 31 August 2024 at 17:20
Kaden Groves won the fourteenth stage in the Vuelta a España. The Australian sprinter disrupted Visma | Lease a Bike's plan, which tried all day to give Wout van Aert the stage victory. However, Fleming was defeated in the sprint and had to settle for second place.
The day after Michael Woods' stunning stage victory, the Vuelta a España had another breakaway stage on the agenda. There was some climbing, but it was nothing compared to Friday and Sunday. We had some steep sections to tackle on those days, but on Saturday, it only climbed between four and five percent on average.
Six leaders get limited gap from peloton (read: Visma | Lease a Bike)
That started with a long run-up stage from Villafrance del Bierzo, where it was slightly uphill for a hundred kilometers. That phase was capped off with the Puerto de Cerredo, a seven-kilometer climb at 4.6 percent average. An intermediate stage was then followed by the De Puerto de Leitariegos (22.8 km at 4.5%): a runner that was nowhere steep, unlike many other Spanish climbs. And so many potential baroudeurs would have circled this stage, we expected.
The first half hour of the race was all about attacks, attacks, attacks, and more attacks. However, no one managed to escape, so we were treated to a tasty "Who will be in the breakaway of the day?" piece. In the end, six guys managed to get away from the peloton: Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech), Jhonatan Narvaez (INEOS Grenadiers), Isaac del Toro (UAE-Team Emirates), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto-Dstny), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan Team).
Read more below the video!
Visma | Lease a Bike keeps front group on short leash
Unfortunately for the sextet, mountain, and points king Van Aert had already announced his desire to win this stage. And so the killer bees of Visma | Lease a Bike quickly took over the peloton and controlled the breakaway. The lead of the six, therefore, never exceeded three minutes. Edoardo Affini and Robert Gesink worked hard to serve the Flemish leader.
Once arrived on the flanks of the Puerto de Leitariegos, the breakaway quickly disintegrated. Narvaez, Tejada, and Frigo were the strongest, while Campenaerts, Meurisse, and Del Toro were caught. The remaining trio in front maintained a nice lead, with continuous advances between 55 and 30 seconds.
After Narvaez is also caught, all eyes turn toward sprint: Groves beats Van Aert in man-to-man battle
After Gesink and Affini, it was up to Uijtdebroeks and Kruijswijk to take back the breakaway riders. However, that took slightly longer than expected: it was getting pretty exciting! When the peloton reached 25 seconds, and Frigo in the leading group was not catching up, Narvaez-in-form thought it was enough and decided to go off on his own. But even for him, it looked like it would be a difficult task...
And so it happened, with Narvaez being caught 19 kilometers from the finish. And so all eyes could be set on a sprint. But who was going to be there? Van Aert, but also fast guys like Corbin Strong and Kaden Groves. And what about that Vacek, who also rode strong all around? It didn't seem like a done deal for Van Aert, who also had to deal with stage winner Pavel Bittner.
Who was going to be the fastest in Villablino? Or would someone still make a final attack? Fourteen kilometers from the finish, top favorite Primoz Roglic suffered mechanical failure, although it didn't seem to cause any further (time) problems. There were no attacks either, meaning the stage was "just" a sprint. And that in a mountain stage! In the sprint, it was a genuine duel between Van Aert and Groves, with the latter eventually winning the race and handing the Belgian a painful defeat.
🚴🇪🇸 | Niet Wout van Aert, maar Kaden Groves wint etappe 14 🤯🤯 Een bergrit gewonnen in een massasprint! #LaVuelta24 📺 Stream koers op HBO Max
Results stage 14 Vuelta a España 2024
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Latest Comments
- Well explained, thanks for the clarity! Daniel DantasDanieldantas20-12-2024
- This is the kind of 'news' that belongs in a cheap tabloid. No matter how boring the offseason gets, nobody wants to read this.
santiagobenites19-12-2024 - I wish we could have seen him try. He'd absolutely get dropped before Pogi overtakes his domestiquesVeganpotter10-12-2024
- Talk is cheap! Next year barring crashes with a healthy team... all well be on track! Some need to talk to make a headline!mootman27-11-2024
- I do not see this event listed on HBO Max Sports Online? Can anyone confirm? Thanks!
MrYuck23-11-2024 - It seemed that he was focusing forward at the time of the crash, after seeing a quick video snippet. But one thing I think he should focus on more intently is breaking a bad habit he has, right now. And that is his constant looking over his shoulders. He does that so much, that I am very sure it is not good for him. Simply watch videos of the greats of CX and you will see very little of that constant looking over their shoulders. That is a behavior that betrays a bit of insecurity on his part. He shouldn't be so concerned, incessantly, about what is over his shoulder. He needn't worry they didn't all disappear. He neds to keep his focus more ahead of himself, and he needs to pay a bit more attention to himself, in a confident manner. It is very frustrating to watch, because it is apparent that he has a lot of potential, and is in much better shape thwan many of his competitors, but the mental game needs to be sharpened more, because that part of strategy plays a huge part in the final results
reemmo022-11-2024 - hahahaha love this shit! I didnt even watched the race, but reading all the gossip articles of how stupid this is!Zatoichi19-11-2024
- Van Aert is really handsome. He can influence me all day! Ditto for Philipsen. Why do you think many of us love cycling?: to see heroic attempts at climbing mountains at high altitudes or to watch speedsters sprint for the finish line or to watch a human being ride at break neck speed down a tricky descent? No, it's all about their lean physiques and muscular legs. (apologies for objectifying these dedicated and amazing athletes).BarwonHeadsUp25-10-2024
- It is unfortunate that the author can't feel the joy that Pogacar brings to the sport and his fans who are legion and I for one feel lucky to have watched such a memorable performance and historic season From the Strada until yesterday with multiple wins in stages in both tours and beyond dominance in the World's. He is proud to wear the Rainbow stripes, shows his leadership to protect his fellows and is as courteous and sportsman-like as the sport allows. He goes early to not have to respond to each attack as all the rest would make him do it. Any racer who could would do the same. Don't "grow tired" of greatness as it is always fleeting.ccrider13-10-2024
- What load of rubbish. Pog is likely a once in a generation cyclist, the like of which hasn't been seen since 'the Cannibal '. How many people were complaining that Merckx was making racing predictable? I remember this year's World RR as one of the most exciting I've watched. Mainly BECAUSE Pog was the favourite and launched what everyone thought (Pog included) was a suicidal attack with 80km to go. For the next 2 hours, I was on the edge of my seat thinking "this is too much, even for Pog". Maybe Zonnefeld prefers the snooze-fest that is a bunch sprint? Like most people I know, I can't watch two hours of the bunch riding very fast... I wait for the final 5km and watch just the sprint. In any event, most races are won from a sprint or lone break. What difference does it make who makes the lone break? Ultimately, the other contenders will have to figure out a way to beat Pog. Even if that means collaboration between teams. It's going to be an exciting few seasons, until the next Pog arrives on the scene. If this is boring, heaven knows what exciting looks like!Michael513-10-2024