Kaden Groves (right) gets the better of Wout van Aert in the final sprint. Photograph: Dario Belingheri/Getty Images Kaden Groves outsprinted Wout van Aert to win stage 14 of the Vuelta a España on Saturday, the Australian’s second victory of this year’s race as his compatriot Ben O’Connor maintained his overall lead.
The longest stage of the race, a 200.5km ride from Villafranca del Bierzo to Villablino, came down to a bunch sprint, and it was the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider who held off Van Aert as he looked for his fourth stage win. New Zealand’s Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) came in third, making it a repeat of stage two , when Groves had edged out Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) for the win.
“I didn’t actually expect today to be a sprint as it was but Visma controlled it and to have a man-on-man sprint against Wout is pretty awesome,” Groves said. “Today I didn’t hesitate, I think I did a really good sprint. It felt like a drag race against Wout but it was great to beat him.” Riders spotted in between houses on the road to Villablino. Photograph: Miguel Riopa/AFP/Getty Images O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) retained the leader’s red jersey, with a gap of one minute and 21 seconds over Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe).
Roglic had a mechanical issue in the closing stages, needing to take the bike of teammate Daniel Martínez, but he managed to make it back in time for the finish. An early six-rider breakaway group was […]
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