"The first one of the year is a big relief" - Kaden Groves breaks winless streak with spectacular sprint in Napoli

Kaden Groves is a seven-time stage winner at the Vuelta a España and now he is a two-time winner at the Giro d'Italia. In 2023 he won a bunch sprint in Salerno, and this time around he repeated his feat closeby in Napoli.

"The team believed in me. it's not been a great start to the season, with the injury I missed a lot of racing. I started here without a win, so the first one of the year is a big relief," Groves said in a post-race interview. It was a chaotic day, with a tough fight for a breakaway, and also a mass crash that saw the finale neutralized from any time or points.

This ultimately benefited Groves, who saw pink and ciclamino jersey Mads Pedersen opt out of the fight for the stage win. The rest of the pure sprinters were still present and willing to fight for it, but Alpecin-Deceuninck timed their efforts to perfection.

"With these wet roads it was quite slippery. Knowing the cobbles starting around the 2 k[ilometer] mark it it was needed to be in front but in the end we also needed to lead the chase to close the breakaway they did a super ride". One of the Alpecin riders launched an attack in the finale and forced other teams to burn some of their leadout men.

"In the end I still had two teammates, they did a super job. I slipped back a few places but launched my sprint early but off the wheels". Groves truly did a perfect sprint, and the result was clear: He won by several bike lengths ahead of the rest of the field, with Milan Fretin coming in a very distant second.

"Once it started raining I felt quite a bit better actually, I'm quite good in the colder wetter conditions. For sure I had confidence in my team also, I believe in them and they did a super job," he added. "It's super nice we're here in Napoli, it's an iconic city for sure, I think as a sprinter to win in the Giro many stages are up here and it's a dream to win it".