Kaden Groves win 'really well earned' at Vuelta a Espana after Filippo Ganna runs him 'incredibly close' - Dan Lloyd
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Updated 30/08/2023 at 17:23 GMT
Eurosport's Dan Lloyd and Adam Blythe were both impressed by a surprise second-place ride from Ineos Grenadiers' sprinter Filippo Ganna, considering his efforts in Tuesday's Stage 4. However, Lloyd also picked out the Alpecin-Deceuninck team as a whole for assisting Kaden Groves to his second stage win of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana so far, holding off the Italian's challenge.
Highlights: Groves takes second victory in a row to win Stage 5 of Vuelta
After watching Kaden Groves sprint to his second stage win at the Vuelta a Espana, Dan Lloyd praised Alpecin-Deceuninck's team-work and Filippo Ganna's ride.
Groves was top of the pack as he pulled away with 200 metres to go after being assisted by his squad, but there was a surprise second spot for Ineos Grenadiers’ rider Ganna, who pushed on from way back to almost snatch first.
Instead, he took second place, and Lloyd praised Ganna’s efforts, which came as a surprise given his efforts on Tuesday’s stage where he assisted Ineos colleague Geraint Thomas.
He said: “He was incredibly close. We weren’t expecting him to be ready to go for the sprint today, yesterday [he was] on duty to keep Geraint Thomas safe.
"He came from a long way back, and he had a bit of a jump on Kaden Groves in terms of the speed he was carrying, but that meant he had to come from a long way out.
“Kept gaining on him towards the line but it wasn’t enough for him to come past. For a guy we don’t normally see do bunch sprints, that was impressive.”
Adam Blythe agreed, and added: “He’s built like a house. It’s a lot of fun seeing him and it’s unusual. He's just come off the track, and he did a lot of preparation for the road TT, but he did the track before, you do a lot of speed, you get a lot of those fast twitch fibres going with those standing starts he’s doing.”
Turning to Groves’ success, the second consecutive stage that the Australian has won with a sprint finish, Lloyd credited his team for delivering him to the line on a day when other sprinters’ teams were not ready to co-operate on strategy.
He explained: “That team took full responsibility from start to finish. They didn’t get any help from the other sprinters teams in the early stages to control the breakaway, they got some help from the [General Classification] teams at the point they wanted to keep their leaders safe, but still had enough riders to do a proper leadout to deliver Groves with 200 metres to go to do his thing.”
Lloyd also noted that Groves had shown a level of consistency early on, saying: “Really well earned. You can be billed as a top favourite, but you still have to carry it off at the end of the day, and he’s done it twice now.”
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How 'monster' Ganna nearly stole Stage 5 from Groves in 'drag race'
Blyth looked at the replay of the finish in detail on the video screen.
He began: “Ganna’s here [in the pack on the left], he’s just started to get out of the saddle. Groves is here [leading], he’s waiting, he’s leaving that little bit of room for his team-mate, waiting to go for [it],
“Ganna has been in the wind for about 400 metres, he’s looking to go this way, and [Dries] Van Gestel, I don’t know where he’s looking at going at the minute, but he somehow finds his way through.
“Van Gestel just squeezes through that gap... at this point it’s just a drag race to the line with the three riders I mention, and Kaden Groves, it’s just a very simple sprint for him. He’s just sat on that wheel, coming out of that last corner, he had no one challenging, nobody coming up to try to move him.
“He just had to follow one wheel, he had time to look around, and then start his sprint. The like of Ganna and Van Gestel, it’s a lot harder for them to do that.
Lidl-Trek rider Edward Theuns was looking in contention for a potential stage win behind Groves, but Dries Van Gestel nudged him aside on two occasions to put him off his stride. Lloyd and Blyth discussed a potentially dangerous move that has had severe consequences in years gone by.
Lloyd said: “It wasn’t just once but twice that Van Gestel used his body to nudge Theuns out of the way, and I think the Belgian had to break at least twice on that finish, and probably would have finished quite a bit higher up.
“He obviously had the form, he obviously had the speed, but with Van Gestel getting in the way a couple of times, or barging him out of position, he stood no hope of going for the stage victory.”
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'Not the nicest of moves!' - Blythe and Lloyd on Van Gestel's lean on Theuns
Blyth explained it was a real risk from Van Gestel to be so aggressive, but admitted most sprinters have done the same.
He explained: “It’s not the nicest of the moves. The main problem is Van Gestel is leaning on Theuns, and Theuns has nowhere to go.
“If you’re leaning on someone and they have space to the left-hand side, so they can move it’s very different, because then they can move out the way a bit.
“He’s leaning on someone and forcing them to break, and that’s the issue for me, they’ve got nowhere to go. It’s a great move because you’re forcing yourself into that position, but if anything happens there are a lot of riders who are going to come down behind him.
“It’s sprinting, so it does happen. It’s a very different one to say what’s right and what’s wrong, but it could have gone desperately wrong if anyone had gone down.”
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