Groves wins another Spanish Vuelta stage and O’Connor keeps overall lead

SANTANDER, Spain (AP) — Kaden Groves earned his third stage win of this year’s Spanish Vuelta, and fellow Australian Ben O’Connor maintained his narrow overall lead over Primoz Roglic on Wednesday.

Groves clinched his seventh career Vuelta stage victory on the final sprint of a rainy day in which riders completed 141.5 kilometers (88 miles) from Arnuero to a relatively flat finish in Santander.

“It started dry and then the finish was wet so it made it quite dangerous as well,” said Groves, who also won the second and the 14th stages of this edition.

“We only caught the attackers in the final kilometer,” the Alpecin–Deceuninck rider added. “There are only a few sprint stages in this race and the rest are mountain stages so the intermediate riders really have to try on days like today. But the team was super motivated to control attackers all day and to repay them with victory No. 3 is pretty special.”

O’Connor and Roglic finished together and the gap between the two remained at five seconds entering the decisive stages and the weekend finish in Madrid.

“It was a bit wet, not too hard, a little treacherous on the descents, but it wasn’t too complicated in the end,” O’Connor said. “We’ve done a lot riding so far in this race so it was good for the boys to have a bit of a break, it was much needed. Tomorrow, break management will probably have to be a lot more pro-active but it should normally be an easier finish.”

Earlier Wednesday, team Visma–Lease a Bike said Belgian cyclist Wout van Aert would need intensive care for a deep knee wound. The three-time stage winner withdrew while wearing the green jersey as top sprinter. Van Aert also led the mountains standings when he was among three riders who crashed during a descent about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the finish of stage 16.

Stage 18 on Thursday will be a 179.5-kilometer (111-mile) mid-mountain ride with a category-one climb that has the potential to eliminate the sprinters from the peloton.

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