Cycling-Groves win Vuelta stage 11 in tight finish, Alaphilippe crashes

Bikeexchange

31/08/2022 17:37

Aug 31 (Reuters) - Australian Kaden Groves of Team
BikeExchange-Jayco won stage 11 of the Vuelta a Espana, a
191.2km flat ride from Alhama de Murcia to Cabo de Gata on
Wednesday, while world champion Julian Alaphilippe crashed out.
    Groves secured the victory in a tight finish, beating Danny
van Poppel (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
to the line. 
    Groves came up on the right side from behind Daniel McLay
(Arkea-Samsic) as he sprinted past him and Juan Sebastian Molano
(UAE Team Emirates) inside the final 50m. Van Poppel and Merlier
came off Groves' wheel to finish second and third respectively.
    The Australian's victory came as a relief to the team after
their leader Simon Yates was forced to pull out of the race
following a positive COVID-19 result ahead of Wednesday's stage.
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    "It feels fantastic," Groves said. "This morning with the
news of Simon going positive for COVID-19 all the boys were
disappointed. It's the best way to bounce back after such bad
news.
    "We set up early for this wind. We thought there'd be
crosswind earlier but there was nothing until the final 4km
where we were the first team. The guys did a perfect job keeping
me in front and fresh.
    "Maybe with about 50-100m to go I was fresher than the other
guys who had to do efforts from behind to move up. Thankfully I
was in the right position and got the gap to step out and do my
sprint. 
    "Being my first Grand Tour win for sure it takes the cake."
    Race leader Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) kept his
red jersey after finishing safely in the peloton, while Mads
Pedersen of Trek-Segafredo stayed on top of the points
classification.
    Earlier, Alaphilippe was forced to abandon the stage with
64km remaining when he slid out on a right-hand bend while
riding towards the head of the peloton with Evenepoel and the
rest of the QuickStep-AlphaVinyl team.
    The French rider left the stage in an ambulance with a
suspected broken collarbone and the crash casts doubt over the
defence of his title at next month's World Championships in
Wollongong.

 (Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru
Editing by Toby Davis)
 ((Manasi.Pathak@thomsonreuters.com;))