The Australian Kaden Groves dominates the sprints at the 78th Tour of Spain. Similar to his teammate Jasper Philipsen at the Tour de France, the 24-year-old professional cyclist dominates the mass arrivals at the Vuelta.
Groves won the fifth stage over 186.2 kilometers from Morella to Burriana on Wednesday (08/30/23). Positions two and three went to Italian hour world record holder Filippo Ganna and Belgian Dries van Gestel.
Evenepoel secures bonus seconds
The Belgian time trial world champion and last year’s winner Remco Evenepoel has meanwhile extended his lead in the overall standings. The young star surprised the competition when he got six bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint. Evenepoel is now eleven seconds ahead of the Spaniard Enric Mas. Danish Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is fourth, 37 seconds back.
Sepulveda placed 38 km from the finish
The profile of the course indicated a great opportunity for the sprinters in advance, and this should be confirmed. With 38 kilometers to go, Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto-Dstny) was the last escapee. As the best German, Felix Engelhardt came in 20th.
Engelhardt’s Jayco-AlUla team suffered a serious setback even before the race was officially approved. team captain Eddie Dunbar (Ireland) crashed so badly in the neutral zone that he had to end the tour prematurely.
New chance for Kämna on Thursday
Stage hunter Lennard Kämna may have another chance on Thursday when the second mountain finish is on the agenda. On the 183.1 kilometer sixth stage from La Vall d’Uixó to Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre at the end it is almost 2000 meters high Pico del Buitre up.