With less than a kilometer to go before the Burriana finish line, Alpecin had done the job, had already imagined and even written the script for victory. Saved from the multiple fall in the peloton with three kilometers to go, the Belgian team mounted the train that launched the final sprint.
Planckaert moved away first. He kept Ghys cruising as he virtually eliminated all challengers. And finally Kaden Groves, as he already did at the arrival in Tarragona, made the last effort to win the fifth stage of the Vuelta.
The Australian only had to worry about the resistance of the Italian Filippo Ganna, who almost gave him a scare in the final meters. “In Alpecin there is a culture of sprinters, it is an advantage. We have expert directors in preparing the sprint”, said Groves, protagonist for the second consecutive day of the Spanish round.
The other proper name was that of the leader of the general classification, Remco Evenepoel, who scratched a few seconds by taking the bonus in the passage through Nules with 10 kilometers to go, precisely beating an insatiable Groves, regularity jersey. "Disputing the bonus was something that was not in the planned plan, I did it because it was there and it did not involve a huge expense. It has been positive to add 6 seconds, everything is going well," said the little cannibal.
The Belgian now leads Enric Mas by 11 seconds ahead of Thursday's stage with a climb finish at the first-class col of Pico del Buitre, a new test for the favourites. "I don't know the climb, I don't know what to expect. I know it's a short answer, but it's the truth," Evenepoel analyzed, already happier after his bitter start to the Vuelta in Barcelona.
1. Kaden Groves (AUS) Alpecin - Deceuninck 4:23:43
2. Filippo Ganna (NOW) INEOS Grenadiers
3. Dries Van Gestel (BEL) TotalEnergies "
4. Alberto Dainese (ITA) Team dsm-firmenich "
5. Lewis Askey (GBR) Groupama - FDJ"
6. Edward Theuns (BEL) Lidl - Trek "
7. David González (ESP) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA "
8. Geoffrey Soupe (FRA) TotalEnergies"
9. Jesus Ezquerra (ESP) Burgos - BH "
10. Jarrad Drizners (AUS) Lotto - Dstny "
1. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Soudal - Quick-Step 17:12:29
2. Enric Mas (ESP) Movistar Team 11
3. Lenny Martinez (FRA) Groupama - FDJ 17
4. Jonas Vingegaard (DEN) Jumbo - Visma
5. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS) BORA - hansgrohe 39
6. Cian Uijtdebroeks (BEL) BORA - hansgrohe "
7. Primož Roglic (SLO) Jumbo - Visma 43
8. John Ayuso (ESP) UAE Team Emirates
9. Marc Soler (ESP) UAE Team Emirates 48
10. João Almeida (POR) UAE Team Emirates "
