Kaden Groves (Alpecin Deceuninck) survived many climbs, again on stage 14, to take his second win in La Vuelta 24, on Saturday in Villablino. Two weeks after he powered to victory in Ourem (stage 2), the Australian star went over the longest climb of this edition – the 22.7km Puerto de Leitariegos, summited with 16.5km to go – to sprint for victory.
It was a tight battle against an unleashed Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) but Groves narrowly edged his Belgian rival, who was hunting a fourth stage win in this edition. Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) made it safely over the summits of the day to retain La Roja on the eve of a gruelling finish at Cuitu Negru.
The peloton of La Vuelta 24 face another stage with loads of climbing (2,883m of elevation). Will the GC contenders battle? Can some fast men dream of surviving the Puerto de Leitariegos to battle for the win in Villablino? Or will it be a delight for long range attackers?
Del Toro on known roads
The battle for the break is on from the start but it takes an hour of battle, with almost 50 kilometres covered, for six riders to emerge at the front: Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers), Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin Deceuninck), Marco Frigo (Premier Tech), Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny) and Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan).
Del Toro, the youngest rider in La Vuelta 24, has already found success on these roads, as a winner of the Vuelta Asturias Julio Alvarez Mendo earlier this season. But it will be hard for him to win again as Wout van Aert’s Visma-Lease a Bike quickly take the reins of the bunch to control the gap at around 2’.
Groves survives and wins
The attackers’ lead is down to 1 minute as they start the main ascent of the day, the 22.7-km long Puerto de Leitariegos. Narvaez, Frigo and Tejada drop their breakaway companions while Cian Uijtdebroeks (Visma-Lease a Bike) ups the pace in the bunch.
Narvaez goes solo into the last 7km of ascent. In the meantime, Steven Kruijswijk (Visma-Lease a Bike) takes over at the front of the bunch. His effort means the end of Narvaez’s assault with 19.5km to go, 3km before the summit.
Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) suffers a mechanical on the downhill but he quickly gets back to the bunch, led by Alpecin Deceuninck for Kaden Groves, who powers to his sixth La Vuelta stage win, the second this year, just ahead of Wout van Aert.
