The fourteenth stage of the Vuelta a España 2024 was won by Kaden Groves. The Australian sprinter of Alpecin – Deceuninck was the fastest in the bunch sprint, after 200.5 kilometers between Villafranco del Bierzo and Villablino.
The Oceanic rider, who achieved his second victory in this edition, won ahead of Belgian Wout van Aert (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and New Zealander Corbin Strong (Israel – Premier Tech). While Frenchman Ben O’Connor (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) entered the bunch and kept the lead of the race.
In the last kilometer Alpecin-Deceuninck took the lead after Kaden Groves resisted the pass. In fact, he received a perfect launch on a finishing straight that was clearly uphill. He launched the finish at the chosen moment and Wout van Aert, who saw the move perfectly, grabbed his wheel and came out of the slipstream. It looked like he was going to come back easily, but no, Kaden Groves managed to hold a little more of his top speed to win comfortably and add his second stage victory.
The breakaway of the day was led by Colombian Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan), Ecuadorian Jhonatan Narváez (INEOS Grenadiers), Mexican Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates), Italian Marco Frigo (Israel-Premier Tech) and Belgians Xandro Meurisse (Alpecin-Deceuninck) and Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny). The breakaways managed a maximum lead of around two minutes.
The Dutch Visma | Lease a Bike team didn’t let the attackers get too far ahead and caught the quintet before the final climb. In the finish Kaden Groves proved to be the strongest and emerged victorious in the mass finish ahead of super favorite Wout van Aert, who wore himself out scoring points in the mountains.
The Iberian round will continue this Sunday with the dispute of stage 15, a mountainous day of 143 kilometers starting in Infiesto and finishing in Valgrande-Pajares Cuitu Negru, which includes three mountain prizes and a high finish.
La Vuelta Ciclista a España (2.UWT)
Results Stage 14 | Villafranco del Bierzo – Villablino (200,5 km)
| 1 | Kaden Groves | Alpecin – Deceuninck | 4:21:34 |
| 2 | Wout van Aert | Team Visma | Lease a Bike | ,, |
| 3 | Corbin Strong | Israel – Premier Tech | ,, |
| 4 | Mathias Vacek | Lidl – Trek | ,, |
| 5 | Pau Miquel | Equipo Kern Pharma | ,, |
| 6 | Filippo Baroncini | UAE Team Emirates | ,, |
| 7 | Simon Guglielmi | Arkéa – B&B Hotels | ,, |
| 8 | Arjen Livyns | Lotto Dstny | ,, |
| 9 | Xabier Berasategi | Euskaltel – Euskadi | ,, |
| 10 | Carlos Canal | Movistar Team | ,, |