Victory at last for Wout van Aert after powerful sprint on stage 3 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana

The second bunch sprint of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana and Wout van Aert has finally returned to winning ways after a powerful performance in the Red Jersey on stage 3, edging out stage 2 winner Kaden Groves.

Four riders managed to get themselves up the road early on, all from the invited Spanish teams. Luis Angel Mate and Xabier Isasa from the Euskaltel - Euskadi were joined by Ibon Ruiz and Unai Iribar of Equipo Kern Pharma. Notably, both Mate and Ruiz were also together in the break on stage 2.

Due to their escapades yesterday, Mate and Ruiz were going head to head for the King of the Mountains points at the top of the 2nd category Alto de Teixeira. In the end, it was Mate who took the maximum points on offer. After the climb, the breakaway slowed considerably, knowing their job for the day was pretty much done. Not wanting to complete the catch just yet however, with around 90km still to go, the peloton eased off as well.

After a rather lethargic 20km, things heated up slightly in preparation for the intermediate sprint, where Wout van Aert led home the peloton behind the four leaders, beating off competition from Kaden Groves in a potential prelude to the day's final sprint.

With just over 20km to go, the last of the break was finally swept up by the peloton and it was then full gas and full focus towards the bunch sprint finish and a likely round 2 of the sprint showdown between Van Aert and Groves. Thankfully, all the general classification hopefuls were safely navigated through the relative safe haven of the 4km to go marker. With the pace incredibly high however, there was no room for relaxation just yet.

Inside the final 2km, Victor Campenaerts attempted a late solo move. Despite the Belgian's best efforts however, he couldn't upset the sprinters and with 900m to go, he was caught. Then, the sprinters themselves took over and first to launch was Van Aert and the Red Jersey held on for a brilliant win ahead of the Green Jersey, Kaden Groves.

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