BURRIANA, Spain (AP) — Kaden Groves of Australia earned his second straight stage win at the Spanish Vuelta on Wednesday in a sprint finish as Remco Evenepoel maintained his overall lead.
Groves edged Filippo Ganna and Dries van Gestel to secure the victory in Stage 5 after a 186.5-kilometer (116-mile) ride from Morella to Burriana.
“It’s a fantastic feeling, the second win of this Vuelta, and two in a row, it’s a great feeling,” the 24-year-old Groves said. “At the end, it was a pretty hectic final today, similar to yesterday but without climbing. The wind made it quite nervous but my team was fantastic again.”
Evenepoel won an intermediate sprint to collect bonus seconds that allowed him to increase his lead slightly ahead of a mountain stage on Thursday.
“Taking the bonus seconds was not necessarily the plan but we were in front and I saw an opportunity, that’s why I just went for it,” he said. “It was a nice one to grab. I thought it was just three seconds but in the end they told me it was six, so it’s pretty nice.”
The Belgian will begin Thursday’s sixth stage with an 11-second lead over Enric Mas of Spain. Frenchman Lenny Martinez is 17 seconds back.
Two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is in fourth place, 37 seconds off the lead.
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