Hat-trick for Kaden Groves at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana after perfectly timed sprint on stage 17
Cycling
Back in the Green Jersey and back to stage winning ways. Kaden Groves took the third stage win of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana with a perfectly timed sprint on stage 17.
On paper the final opportunity for the sprinters, the lack of potential teams willing to control the peloton meant that a breakaway steal couldn't be completely ruled out. Just four riders got themselves into the early break however, those being Jonas Gregaard, Thibault Guernalec, Thomas Champion and Xabier Isasa.
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With Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL (Pavel Bittner), rather than Alpecin-Deceuninck (Kaden Groves), doing much of the controlling in the peloton behind, the breakaway were actually given something of surprisingly large advantage. With all the climbing done for the day and just 45km to go for example, the leading quartet still held a lead of 3:41 over the peloton.
Into the last 25km though, and a notable acceleration from the peloton was causing severe damage to the time gap, now standing at just 1:38. With 15km to go and despite having a teammate in the breakaway which still led the race, Victor Campenaerts launched an attack from the peloton. Ultimately though, the Belgian was not given any leeway.
At 10km to go, the leaders were down to three with Champion dropped, with their lead down to just 34 seconds. With the rain absolutely torrential in Santander for the finale, the conditions were far from ideal. Nevertheless, the brave breakaway were still fighting with all their might. At 2.7km to go though, they were finally caught.
Immediately following the catch however, the counter attacks started up once more, led by Mauro Schmid, Enzo Leijnse and that man Campenaerts again. Through the flamme rouge the leading trio had daylight but once the sprints launched, Kaden Groves in the Green Jersey took the win ahead of Pavel Bittner and Arne Marit.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
- A mindset that reminds me of Tim Declerq. I loved watching that guy just pound away the kilometers, hours at the front, holding an entire breakaway in check on his own. Bjerg seems like a similar guy. Curling, the team sport.RidesHills04-11-2026
- He will be lol, but he can still win on the climbs hahaawp04-11-2026
- I would love to have his inconsistency. How many wins this year? 2 TdF stages, a WC, a Euro championship, San Sebastian, multiple wins early year. Monument podiums. I'd take it. I don't think he has a chance in the TdF, but he is still amazing.mij04-11-2026
- He's not going to win the TdF. Maybe if they make every single stage a TT he could win. But I still believe Tadej would just sharpen his TT skills and win.mij04-11-2026
- You beat me to it. Should he make a full recovery (likely) and go light early in the year. One, two, three. Don't ask me, I don't give a damn. Should he be on a Feel-Like-He's-Fixin'-to-Die High.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- The deciding factor may be the (TBD) number of (any type of) kilometers without Pogacar.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- Unexplained chronic fatigue is an all too common bitch. The hard to find definitive answer may lie buried in gut mechanisms. A mystery of the deep.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- It's weird to say Evenepoel would be making a "serious mistake by adding the 2027 Giro d'Italia to his calendar, warning that such a decision could even be interpreted as a lack of confidence in his ability to win the Tour de France." It may well be a mistake but with so many commentators (of all sorts) continuously claiming almost everything Remco does as being a mistake, almost nobody should care what the pundits and the disparagers should say. His team may not want him to do the Giro, and that matters. But it's possibly or probably up to Remco to decide and it may not have to be decided on until a month or so ahead of the race. Yes , Remco is inconsistent much like the majority of the best riders but he's enjoying a period of not having been recently injured (or sick). Whatever he does he need not be concerned with critics who will second guess any perceived failure no matter what. I suspect he will have enough other races on his schedule so he won't be considering it. But the worst reason to not race it is because of what some will say - humorous that be.Yepperoni04-11-2026
- I'll say clean sweep all grand tourZamorano04-11-2026
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🚀 Stage 1⃣7⃣ is underway! 141 km through Cantabria await us. Enjoy! ➡ ¡La etapa 1⃣7⃣ está en marcha! Nos esperan 141 km por Cantabria. ¡A disfrutar! #LaVuelta24
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