Groves wins epic final stage at Vuelta after all-star breakaway | Video

Kaden Groves takes the victory at the end of a remarkable final stage at La Vuelta on the streets of Madrid (Photo: Rafa Gomez-Sprint Cycling Agency)

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) has won a remarkable final stage at La Vuelta in Madrid, where a breakaway of big name riders got clear, was caught in the final kilometre but still took the honours.

Groves responded to an attack from Remco Evenepoel (Soudal QuickStep) in a bid to defend his green jersey. They got across - with Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) - to a three-man breakaway that was already up the road.

While Ineos Grenadiers also had Kim Heiduk and Omar Fraile in the chasing group that went clear when Evenepoel attacked with 36km remaining, they did not survive the relentless pace, much of it coming from Evenepoel.

After Heiduk and Fraile fell back and the Evenepoel-Groves-Ganna chasing group caught the trio up front - Lennard Kämna, Nico Denz (Bora-hansgrohe) and Rui Costa (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) - the maximum gap that six-rider breakaway enjoyed was just north of 20 seconds.

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And while the peloton had the leaders at between 10 and 15 seconds for most of the last 10km, the bunch simply did not have the firepower to close down the leaders. It was not until the breakaway stalled inside the final kilometre - spreading out across the road as none of them wanted to lead out the sprint - that the front of bunch latched onto the back of them.

However, at that point Evenepoel took up the lead-out duties, with Groves in his wheel. Evenepoel's last kick for the line was so hard nobody who made the juncture in the peloton was able to get to the front and compete for victory in the sprint.

It was left to Groves to come off Evenepoel's wheel to win, holding off a late charge from Ganna, who placed 2nd on the stage, with another one of the breakaway men - Nico Denz (Bora-hansgrohe) - placing 3rd.

Costa finished 6th on the stage, Evenepoel 8th and Kämna 10th. Hugo Page (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) was best of the riders from the peloton that latched onto the back of the breakaway in the final, but still had to settle for 4th on the day.

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) ran out the overall winner, as expected. He has taken his first Grand Tour win by 17 seconds from Jonas Vingegaard, with Primož Roglič completing a team 1-2-3, some 1:08 down on winner Kuss in 3rd.

Groves wrapped up the points classification, after winning three stages, with Evenepoel claiming the climbers' classification, with three stage wins along the way. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) was best young rider, and 4th overall, while Jumbo Visma also won the team prize - by over 20 minutes from Bahrain Victorious.

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More to come.

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