"He just rode me out of the wheel!" - Kaden Groves blown away by Matthew Brennan in dramatic stage 1 finish at Volta a Catalunya 2025
Cycling
Alpecin-Deceuninck seemed to have played their cards to perfection in a dramatic finale to stage 1 at the 2025 Volta a Catalunya, with Tibor del Grosso leading solo into the Flamme Rouge and Kaden Groves on the wheel of the chasing Matthew Brennan. Against all odds though, in the end it was the Team Visma | Lease a Bike prodigy that took the win.
Despite Groves being among the most highly-regarded sprinters in the entire peloton, with eight Grand Tour stage wins to his name, the Aussie powerhouse simply couldn't come about the teenage Brit, despite Brennan basically sprinting full gas for the entirety of the final kilometre. "It wasn't part of the plan, but on the descent, he (del Grosso ed.) was handling the bike so well and we tried to use that to our advantage," reflects Groves in his post-stage interview with Eurosport immediately after crossing the finish line.
"But in the end, he ran out of legs and me also. Brennan was super strong and just rode me out of the wheel," adds the 26-year-old honestly. "It was super tough. Not the best legs, but no excuses. I was beaten fair and square today," concludes Groves' recap.
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- My issue is that this site proactively solicits the commentary of one disgraced doper after another. It's like they can't find anyone who didn't leave the sport under a cloud of shame. I think I'm done with this site.critguy26-03-2025
- The finale of this race was an absolute mess, and the last crash that took out 1/2 of the field was caused when a double width road very suddenly funneled into a single lane, and riders had nowhere to go. I find it amazing how some of these courses get approved in the first place. So much for the UCI's campaign for improved rider safety, because if they actually cared, the organizers wouldn't have been allowed to run the finale on this parcours.
santiagobenites26-03-2025 - I hope Wout can come back. He has had 3 terrible crashes--not on par with Froome or Bernal, but at his level just a fraction of a percent is all that separates the grand champions of this new generation. Even if he is back all the way physically, those abrupt confrontations with pavement and mortality take a psychic toll, especially for a father of young kids.
Barney26-03-2025 - Everyone was so keen on free speech for a while, what happened ;-) But seriously, the problem is not so much that he gave his view as that someone follows it and spreads it, not totally unlike the schoolkids running US war games at present ;-)Mistermaumau26-03-2025
- We'll see what happens this year, hopefully he finds himself a little stronger.awp26-03-2025
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- The MTB World title - there is no such thing. However, there are World titles in XCC, XCO, XCM, XCE, Enduro, Downhill......... He's after the World title in XCO, but could probably win the XCC title too, as his record is still better than anybody else, and he hasn't ridden an XCC World Cup since May 2021. Ten wins from twelve races says it all..... However, the XCO course is Crans-Montana is technical - he will surely need plenty of time back on the MTB, both training, and racing, otherwise it's going to be another doomed ambition.wipperman9526-03-2025
- Sweet. I wonder who's up on the next episode of Disgraced Ex-Doper Offers an Unsolicited Opinion?critguy26-03-2025