"We had such a big month here in Spain" - Kaden Groves takes home 3 stage wins and Green Jersey from La Vuelta
Cycling
Kaden Groves has proven to be the premier sprinter at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, winning three stages and holding off a late Remco Evenepoel charge to secure victory in the Green Jersey classification.
Although Groves was heavy favourite to win stage 21 in Madrid, not many would have guessed he'd have done so from the breakaway. "For sure, I didn’t imagine I would win this way. Coming into today, I really wanted to take the stage and keep the green jersey but going for a breakaway wasn’t my intention," the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter admits to La Vuelta post-stage. "Remco [Evenepoel] this morning was a threat for the green jersey and I suspected he might try something, not to take the jersey, but to try and win the stage. And I knew I had to follow him. "
Groves alongside Evenepoel, Filippo Ganna, Rui Costa, Nico Denz and Lennard Kamna rode clear of the peloton and held them off into the final kilometre. As Evenepoel launched his bid for victory, Groves stuck to his wheel and used the Belgian as the perfect leadout to secure fire himself to victory.
"It was quite interesting in the finale. I didn’t want to pull the guys in the last kilometre because obviously it would take away my sprint," Groves recalls. "We all looked at each other and then it meant that peloton came back. But I knew that when I’m in a sprint, I can find a little extra, and Remco leading out in the final hectometres was a big advantage for me. It’s pretty special [to be the first Australian winner of the points standings of La Vuelta]. I need to thank my team, without them it wouldn’t have been possible. We had such a big month here in Spain and we prepared together as well. This victory of the jersey and also my third stage mean a lot to me and I need to thank my team."
GROVES, GANNA, DENZ, RUI COSTA, EVENEPOEL and KAMNA. I will always remember what they did today. Thank you, gentlemen. 🎩 #LaVuelta23 pic.twitter.com/KFjpqlB5LR
— Mihai Simion (@faustocoppi60) September 17, 2023
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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