Nat Bromhead
Kaden Groves has now won two consecutive stages of the 2023 Vuelta, the 24yo sprinting to Stage 5 success.
Beating revered fast man Fillippo Ganna across the line, it is Groves’ third Grand Tour stage win of the year after also taking Stage 5 of the 2023 Giro.
“This is a fantastic feeling … the second win of this Vuelta, and two in a row,” an elated Groves said. “At the end, it was a pretty hectic final … similar to yesterday but without climbing. The wind and roundabouts made it quite nervous but my team was fantastic again.”
Remco Evenepoel slightly improved his overall race lead via collecting bonus seconds with Stage 6 brewing as a serious GC showdown.
“Taking the bonus seconds was not necessarily the plan but we were in front and I saw an opportunity, that’s why I just went for it,” said Evenepoel after the stage.
“It was a nice one to grab. I thought it was just three seconds but in the end they told me it was six, so it’s pretty nice.”
2023 Vuelta GC After Stage 5
Wednesday: Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck has won Stage 4 of La Vuelta, the 24yo Aussie doubling up on his Stage 11 win at last year’s race.
In the final 350m of the 184km stage, Groves tussled with Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) and Julius van den Berg (EF Education-Easypost) before eventually taking the win.
“It was actually a really hard day with only DSM and ourselves to control it. I had to use two guys just to control the breakaway and we used a lot of energy,” Groves said after his big win.
“My team was fantastic today – super aggressive and always there on time. It paid off with the victory. Molano went full gas from the bottom with 350 metres to go and I was patient enough and strong enough to close the gap with around 100 metres to go.”
Groves said he was confident he could blast past Molano due to the distance he’d already sprinted.
“On a finish like that, which is super tough and long, I thought he would have to be on a really good day to beat me,” he said.
Groves is in a strong position to contend the Stage 5 sprint finish as the riders cover 186km from Morella to Burriana.
