Vuelta a España Stage Report: Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the seventeenth stage of la Vuelta in Santander. The 141.5 kilometre stage ended in a bunch sprint in the rain after a late attack by Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dnsty) and Enzo Leijnse (dsm-firmenich-PostNL) was pulled in the final kilometre. Nothing changed on GC: Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R-La Mondiale) kept the red jersey and his 5 second lead over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe).
**** Full ‘PEZ Stage Report’ very soon. ****
Stage 17 finish
Vuelta race director, Fernando Escartín: “This is the final clear opportunity for the sprinters in this edition of La Vuelta. The two Category 2 mountain passes within the first half of the stage will favour an escape, which must then be controlled by the sprinter teams in order to emerge victorious in a sprint to the finish-line in Santander.”
Stage 17 profile
Stage 17: In the middle of the tough final week, the sprinters are allowed to go for victory on stage 17. There are two Cat.2 climbs, but the last 50 kilometres of the stage are virtually flat. The stage starts in Arnuero and finishes in the Cantabrian capital of Santander. The first part of the start should be quite calm, but then the stage has a hilly zone between kilometres 40 and 70. This includes the Alto de la Estranguada (7.8km at 6.2%) and the Alto del Caracol (5.1km at 6.6%), both Cat.2. Nothing too severe, so the sprinters will probably be safe. After the Alto del Caracol it is mainly downhill and flat to the finish in Santander, where there should be a bunch sprint. The Vuelta has finished in Santander 35 times. The last stage finish was in 2003 and Alessandro Petacchi was the victor.
The new points leader, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) at the start of stage 17 in Arnuero
Ben O’Connor will be hoping for a quiet day
Primoz Roglič and Alberto Contador at the start
KOM, Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) – Wout van Aert to battle
The jerseys before the start – There shouldn’t be any changes
The peloton passing the docks
The ‘break of the day’
The climbing came early in the stage
The rain was on for most of the stage – Some of the cows got the forecast right
Kern Pharma took control of the bunch and kept the break at around 2 minutes
# Keep it PEZ for the Vuelta finale. #
Vuelta a España Stage 17 Result:
1. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck in 3:32:14
2. Pavel Bittner (CZ) dsm-firmenich-PostNL
3. Vito Braet (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty
4. Pau Miquel Delgado (Spa) Equipo Kern Pharma
5. Corbin Strong (NZ) Israel-Premier Tech
6. Victor Campenaerts (Bel) Lotto Dstny
7. Edward Planckaert (Bel) Alpecin-Deceuninck
8. Mathis Le Berre (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels
9. Arjen Livyns (Bel) Lotto Dstny
10. Xabier Berasategi Garmendia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi.
Vuelta a España Overall After Stage 17:
The post VUELTA’24 Stage 17: Groves Goes First in the Rain! appeared first on PezCycling News.
