Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) sprinted to his third stage win of this year's Vuelta a España on Wednesday, completing a hat-trick of victories on stage 17.
The Australian, wearing the green jersey after Wout van Aert's (Visma-Lease a Bike) race abandon, powered beyond Pavel Bittner (dsm-firmenich PostNL) in a wet finale in Santander. Defeated, the Czech rider sat up before the line, leaving Groves to celebrate with his arms outstretched.
"It was a tough day. It started dry, and then the majority of the finish was wet, so it made it quite dangerous out there," Groves said.
In the closing kilometres, a trio of riders sprung out of the peloton to try and spoil the sprinters' final opportunity at this year's Vuelta. They were caught by the oncharging trains with a few hundred metres to go.
The late attacks, Groves said, were “not unexpected”.
"The rest is so much mountains, so the intermediate riders really have to try on days like today," he said.
"This was my last opportunity at this race, and we have such a super-motivated team that did so well at the start to control the breakaway and make sure the composition was correct. To repay them with win number three is pretty special."
The top of the general classification went unchanged on stage 17, with Ben O'Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) continuing to lead the race. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) is second overall, five seconds behind, with two summit finishes and a time trial still to come.
How it happened
With the race heading towards its climbing crescendo, the peloton enjoyed one of their final flat finishes on stage 17. The day brought the second shortest road stage of this year's race, at 141.5km, with a pair of category-two climbs to contest in the first half.
Early on, a four-rider breakaway established itself, counting: Thibault Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Jonas Gregaard (Lotto Dstny), the best-placed of the quartet in the overall standings at 86th. The group rode their gap out to around four minutes, which they held over the two climbs.
Inside 10km to go, the leaders' advantage fell to just 34 seconds. Behind, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe led the chase, barreling over sodden roads towards Santander.
They secured the catch with 2.5km remaining, when Mauro Schmidt (Jayco-Alula) sprung a flyer on the bunch, followed closely by Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich PostNL). Victor Campanaerts (Lotto Dstny) shot out of the peloton in pursuit to join the duo.
The attackers' move would prove short-lived, in the end. Determined to make their final opportunity count, the sprint trains swallowed the trio up in the final kilometre, before unleashing their fastmen to the line.
Groves won comfortably by a bike length on the Cantabrian coastline. Bittner came second, with Vito Braet (Intermarché-Wanty) achieving his best finish of the race in third.
Results
Vuelta a España 2024, stage 17: Arnuero > Santander (141.5km)
1. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 3:32:14
2. Pavel Bittner (Cze) dsm-firmenich PostNL
3. Vito Braet (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
4. Pau Miquel (Esp) Equipo Kern Pharma
5. Corbin Strong (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech
6. Victor Campanaerts (Bel) Lotto Dstny
7. Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
8. Mathis Le Berre (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Arjen Livyns (Bel) Lotto Dstny
10. Xabier Berasategi (Esp) Euskaltel-Euskadi, all at same time
General classification after stage 17
1. Ben O'Connor (Aus) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, in 68:41:14
2. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +5s
3. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, +1:25
4. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) EF Education-EasyPost, +1:46
5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Soudal Quick-Step, +2:18
6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ, +3:48
7. Carlos Rodríguez (Esp) Ineos Grenadiers, +3:53
8. Mattias Skjelmose (Den) Lidl-Trek, +4:00
9. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +4:27
10. Pavel Sivakov (Fra) UAE Team Emirates, +5:19
