It was an assured performance from the Australian WorldTour team at the Vuelta as they played their part in chasing down the flat stage’s breakaway. Kell O’Brien took over at the front of the peloton with just under two kilometres to go and managed to keep Michael Hepburn and Groves positioned at the front of the race well into the final kilometre.
Hepburn took over to get Groves up to speed to contest the sprint, and when John Degenkolb (Team DSM) launched the final dash for the line, but Groves was able to respond to latch onto Dan McLay’s (Arkea-Samsic) wheel before jumping clear to take a convincing victory.
“I’ve got to thank all the guys, Luke was riding all day, and then we set up early for the wind,” said Groves. “We thought there would be crosswinds a bit earlier, but there was nothing until the final 4km where we were first team, and the guys did a perfect job of keeping me in front and fresh.
“It’s been a really good year. I’m super happy to get a win here already and there’s still more stages to come.”
Groves’ win was particularly welcome for BikeExchange-Jayco, who started the stage with the news that team leader and fifth overall, Simon Yates, had to withdraw from the race with a positive COVID diagnosis.
“It feels fantastic, with the news this morning of Simon going positive for Covid, all the boys were pretty disappointed, and this is the best way to bounce back after such bad news. I’m really happy to celebrate, but I also wish he was here, because he’s a part of this team.”
Danny van Poppel (BORA-hansgrohe) flashed home to finish second, with Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) third. There were no changes to the jersey holders on the flat stage that didn’t see the potential crosswind action that had been expected pre-stage.
La Vuelta continues with a summit finish to Peñas Blancas on Stage 12, a very hard climb that will again see the top climbers come to fore to compete for the stage victory and red jersey. Watch on SBS and SBS On Demand from 11pm AEST tonight.
