Groves blasts to Vuelta stage two victory

Kaden Groves edged a bunch sprint finish to claim victory on stage two of the Vuelta a Espana yesterday.
Australian Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Groves powered over the line ahead of Wout van Aert and Corbin Strong at the end of a 194km run between Cascais and Ourem in Portugal. Visma’s Van Aert takes the general classification lead after earning six bonus seconds for placing second.
“It’s a really nice way to start this Vuelta,” said Groves after his victory in five hours 12 minutes 55 seconds.
“It’s been a hard year for myself, not having a win yet, but I came here super motivated to change that, and I’ve got to thank my team for a really strong ride today.”
Van Aert now leads Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates by three seconds overall, after the American took the red jersey after winning the stage one individual time trial.
Three-time winner Primoz Roglic, the Vuelta favourite, is 20 seconds off the top, while defending champion Sepp Kuss trails Van Aert by 56 seconds.
“I wanted to win this stage - my team did a really good job to make it a bunch sprint so it’s unfortunate to arrive second, but today I knew that finishing in the first three meant the red jersey, so after all it’s a good day,” said Van Aert.
“It was difficult to time the sprint well because the guys from behind maybe carried a bit more speed, so that’s maybe something we should have looked (at), but Kaden passed me really strong and deserved his win.”
Vingegaard victorious in Poland where it all began
Jonas Vingegaard won the Tour of Poland title yesterday in a triumphant return to the race where it all started for the Danish two-time Tour de France champion.
Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) decided against racing in the Vuelta a Espana after an exhausting Tour de France where he finished second having spent three months out of action following a crash at the Tour of the Basque Country in April.
Instead, the 27-year-old returned to Poland, the scene of his first UCI World Tour win in 2019 when he triumphed on stage six. While he didn’t win a stage this time around, he went one better by claiming the overall race win.
“Everything went according to plan. After the Tour de France, I felt that I had 100% recovered from the injury,” Vingegaard said.
“This season I have learned to enjoy the moments and not to make long-term plans. Now I need a rest and then I will think about the future.”
Vingegaard took control of the yellow jersey after stage two, where he finished second in the individual time trial, and after the last of seven stages maintained his 13 second lead over Italian Diego Ulissi of UAE Team Emirates.
As expected, the final stage came down to a bunch sprint finish in Krakow, with Vingegaard’s Dutch teammate Olav Kooij taking his second stage win of the Tour.