Australian cyclist Kaden Groves has scored his first Grand Tour win on La Vuelta just hours after his BikeExchange-Jayco team leader, Simon Yates, had to withdraw from the race due to Covid-19.
The bunch sprint that settled the 191.2km stage 11 from ElPozo Alimentación to Cabo de Gata was chaotic, with John Degenkolb (Team DSM) and Pascal Ackermann's UAE Team Emirates lead-out man, Juan Sebastián Molano, going very early.
Groves - who has won some races in sprints already as a pro but was taking his first big victory today - responded with an incredible burst of speed to hit the front. And while Danny van Poppel (Bora-hansgrohe) and Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) closed on Groves very fast as the line approached, the Australian won by about half a length.
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Van Poppel, now free to sprint himself after Sam Bennett's departure from the race, looked like the fastest in the final dash to the line. However, he ran into some traffic and had to weave his way through it, freewheeling for a moment. But for that enforced pause, the Dutch rider would perhaps have taken it.
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However, Groves was very good value, with his team mates also leading him out very well; showing strength and confidence in hitting the front hard in the final kilometre in a bid to launch him to victory.
As the stage ended in a bunch sprint there was no change in the overall. Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl), who won yesterday's TT stage, still leads by 2:41 from Primož Roglič (Jumbo Visma). Enric Mas (Movistar) remains in 3rd place, at 3:03, ahead of the summit finish tomorrow to Peñas Blancas Estepona.
