Even driving rain could not dampen Australian smiles on Spain's north coast as Kaden Groves' victory on stage 17 of La Vuelta a Espana topped off a memorable day in which he, Ben O'Connor and Jay Vine wore and retained the grand tour's three main jerseys.
Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) cemented his status as the event's leading sprinter in the wake of the withdrawal of Visma–Lease a Bike's Wout van Aert, who crashed on Tuesday, winning a superbly timed finish on the Santander beachfront to retain his green points jersey.
A day of treacherous conditions in Cantabria, dominated by a breakaway that was caught in the last 100 metres, enabled O'Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) to hold on to his red leader's jersey for a 12th day.
With the general classification (GC) riders focussing on simply completing Wednesday's stage even his bare five-second advantage over Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was not challenged.
Vine (UAE Team Emirates), who inherited the King of the Mountains blue polka-dot jersey with Van Aert's exit, also held on to his status.
It is the first time in grand tours Australian riders have held these jerseys simultaneously and the first time in La Vuelta any three have been worn by Aussies together.
Previously the leaders', points' and young rider jerseys were held simultaneously by Bradley McGee, Robbie McEwen and Baden Cooke respectively in the 2003 Tour de France. In the 2010 Giro Cadel Evans, Matt Lloyd and Richie Porte held, and indeed won, the points, King of the Mountains, and young rider awards.
Groves edged out Czech rider Pavel Bittner and Belgium's Vito Braet in a mass sprint finish after the peloton rode 141.5km from Arnuero to Santander.
"It was quite a tough day. It started dry and then the finish was wet so it made it quite dangerous as well," Groves said.
"There are only a few sprint stages in this race and the rest are mountain stages so the intermediate riders really have to try on days like today."
It was Groves' third win of this year's Vuelta, and his seventh in the event overall. He is now favourite to retain the jersey he won last year,.
Vine, who wore the blue-and-white polka dot for ten days in the 2022 event, will also be highly fancied if he comes through Thursday's stage, a 179.5km mid-mountain ride with a category-one climb and 15 points at stake.
O'Connor, however, is more precariously placed given his slim lead.
He did, however, avoid losing time when penalised for failing to attend the official ceremony within 10 minutes of Tuesday's stage finish.
The West Australian was fined 1,000 Swiss francs, (A$1,750) and docked 20 UCI points after a mix-up that led him to go back down the 15km finishing climb before having to return in a car with a police escort.
"I'm not happy, I can tell you that," O'Connor said.
He was more cheery after Wednesday's stage.
"It was a bit wet, not too hard, a little treacherous on the descents, but it wasn't too complicated in the end," he said.
"Tomorrow, break management will probably have to be a lot more pro-active but it should normally be an easier finish."
with agencies
