Kaden Groves: "I picked this stage out to get the victory and I can’t believe I’ve got it"

Team BikeExchange - Jayco have had a mixed day, where they lost both race lead and 33 seconds for Simon Yates' general classification stint after a late crash. However, despite all this, they actually came off the stage as winners, after Kaden Groves took a very important win.

“It was pretty tough actually [the run to the finish line], with some echelons splitting the bunch, but Michael and I were in the front and a lot of other strong teams like Movistar and Jumbo," Groves said in a post-race interview. In a day that was set out to be for the pure sprinters, the Australian didn't have top competition, with Phil Bauhaus his pre-race rival on paper.

Indeed the battle between the two came in the end of a windy stage, marked by a flurry of crashes, but Groves came out on top to take his first win at World Tour level, after teasing it at the Tour of Oman and Tirreno-Adriatico.

"We had Simon out the back and they were using that to their advantage to maybe put some time into him, so it was pretty full gas. The guys did such a great job all day riding in a good position and riding on the front, making sure the breakaway was close so it could be a sprint today, and also being in position for the corners before the crosswinds," he added.

Groves concluded: "I liked this stage, I picked this stage out to get the victory and I can’t believe I’ve got it and maybe later in the week we can have another sprint." He will have another opportunity on the race's fifth stage where he is likely to once again be one of the main favourites.