"Now I've proven it" - Tearful Groves completes Grand Tour trilogy with epic solo win in the rain

Kaden Groves is one of the most unique sprinters in the current peloton, and in a way a rider that can be compared to a Wout van Aert of the early 2020's. A tricky comparison, but the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider has shown today how much of a rider he is outside of just a sprinter, as he conquered his first Tour de France stage win racing all by himself.

"So many emotions are rushing through me. We had so many plans for our team, especially with Jasper and Mathieu. But now I got my chance," Groves, in tears, said in a post-race interview. Although the Belgian team succeeding in helping both Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel to victories earlier in the race, both withdrew with injuries and illnesses respectively.

Groves had been contesting the sprints since Philipsen's abandon however he didn't have the best of luck and couldn't come close to netting a stage win. In the second half of the race he had been very absent and Alpecin also disappeared quite a lot from the peloton. Until today, when the Australian jumped into the day's breakaway in the rain and several rolling climbs.

"The team gave me a free rein, but we were unsure whether to go for a stage win today or tomorrow. I always feel good in rain and cold, but for the first time, I'm winning solo. And I'm doing it in the Tour. Unbelievable! I had truly superb legs. I struggled to get here, but we're rewarded with a stage win".

Groves could rely on his sprint, but in such a rolling day, that could be an issue if he started to get marked. Hence, Groves actually did not rely on his specialty. In an incredible day form-wise, Groves managed to hold it upright on the bike and then attack his way into distancing all his rivals.

He arrived in Pontarlier by himself with a large gap over his rivals, and has taken what is perhaps the biggest win of his career. "This isn't really a childhood dream, because I started racing later. But in the Tour, you feel so much pressure."

This means he is, following Tim Wellens, the second rider in this Tour to complete the Grand Tour stage trilogy. "I had already won the Giro and the Vuelta, but the question remained whether I could do it in the Tour. Well, now I've proven it".