Cycling

La Vuelta 2023: Kaden Groves wins back-to-back stages

August 30, 2023 5:44 pm

If yesterday’s stage at La Vuelta 2023 served anything, then it was to encourage other riders to go for a break early on in the stage. Today it was Eric Fagundez of Burgos-BH who set off early – on his own! At kilometre 16 there were already two attempts thwarted by the peloton but Fagundez was lucky to get away. The gap was more than 5 minutes at one point.

Kaden Groves wins in Burriana: La Vuelta Stage 5 Report

It was not to be as the gap became smaller and smaller until it was so small that Eduardo Sepulveda was able to jump away from the peloton to chase Fagundez on the climb to today’s only mountain, the Collado de Ibola, a category two climb of 11,4 kilometres length and an average gradient of 3,9%. He took the five points in the King of Mountain classification confidently ahead of Fagundez and Cattaneo.

A short while later, Facundez was caught by the peloton while Sepulveda still enjoyed a 20-second gap. Alas, with less than 40 kilometres left to race, he was caught, too.

There remained 20 kilometres before the only sprint on the road of the day. This was duly won by Remco Evenepoel ahead of Kaden Groves who cemented his lead in the Green Jersey classification.

1. R. Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), 20pts
2. K. Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 17 pts
3. C. Pedersen (Soudal Quick-Step), 15 pts
4. F. Fisher-Black (UAE Team Emirates), 13 pts
5. T. Bayer (Alpecin-Deceuninck), 10 pts

The Top Ten of Stage 5

In the final sprint, Groves was the man with the best punch over the last metres. Once again, there was a crash with 3 kilometres to go. Milan Menten of Lotto-DSTNY was involved. Once again, Groves underlined that he is the fastest man in the peloton of La Vuelta 2023.

    1. K. Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 04h 23′ 43″
    2. F. Ganna (Ineos-Grenadiers) +00′ 00″
    3. D. van Gestel (Total Energies) +00′ 00″
    4. A. Dainese (Team DSM-Firmenich) +00′ 00″
    5. L. Askey (Groupama – FDJ) +00′ 00″
    6. E. Theuns (Lidl-Trek) +00′ 00″
    7. D. Lopez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +00′ 00″
    8. G. Soupe (Total Energies) +00′ 00″
    9. J. Muela (Burgos-BH) +00′ 00″
    10. J. Drizners (Lotto-DSTNY) +00′ 00″
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The bunch prepares for the final sprint – Photo by Icon sport

The Top Ten of the General Classification

There were few changes among the top ten, Romain Bardet dropped out of the top ten and was replaced by Almeida in 10th. place.

    1. R. Evenpoel (Soudal Quick-Step) 17h 12′ 29″
    2. E. Mas (Movistar) +00′ 11″
    3. L. Martinez (Groupama – FDJ) +00′ 17″
    4. J. Vingegaard (Jumbo-Vista) +00′ 37″
    5. A. Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00′ 39″
    6. C. Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +00′ 39″
    7. P. Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) +00′ 43″
    8. J. Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) + 00′ 44″
    9. M. Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +00′ 48″
    10. J. Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +00′ 48″

The Top Ten in the Green Jersey Classification

Due to his win in today’s stage, Kaden Groves leads this classification with 122 points, almost double the points the second-placed Andrea Vendrame has won so far. The overall leader Remco Evenepoel is third with 45 points.

    1. K. Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 122pts
    2. A. Vendrame (AG2R Citroen Team) 62pts
    3. R. Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) 45pts
    4. D. van Gestel (Total Energies) 38pts
    5. E. Theuns (Lidl-Trek) 37pts
    6. A. Kron (Lotto-DSTNY) 30pts
    7. J. Molano (UAE Team Emirates) 30pts
    8. D. Lopez (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) 30pts
    9. L. Askey (Groupama – FDJ) 27pts
    10. M. van den Berg (EF Education – Easypost) 26pts

The Top Ten in the King of the Mountains Classification

By going first over the Collado de Ibola, Sepulveda has extended his lead in the polka dot jersey and has now 21 points, 11 more than Evenepoel who has 10.

    1. E. Sepulveda (Lotto-DSTNY) 21pts
    2. R. Evenpoel (Soudal Quick-Step) 10pts
    3. M. Sobrero (Team Jayco ALULA) 6pts
    4. J. Oliver (Astana) 6pts
    5. J. Vingegaard (Jumbo-Vista) 6pts
    6. D. Caruso (Bahrain Victorious) 6pts
    7. J. Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) 4pts
    8. L. Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) 4pts
    9. A. Kron (Lotto-DSTNY) 3pts
    10. A. Okamika (Burgos-BH) 3pts

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