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Despite Remco Evenepoel soloing in for a big win atop the Puerto de la Cruz de Linares on Stage 18 and closing his gap to points leader Kaden Groves, the Australian remains very much in the box seat to win the first Australian green jersey at the Vuelta a Espana.
Groves amassed a big lead early in the race after two sprint victories, consisteny placings and picking up points at the intermediates points on the stage. His lead was at one stage 118 points, but he now has a 36-point advantage over the runaway Belgian star, who has spent a number of stages in breakaways since dropping out of the battle for the overall title on stage 13.
With most of the intermediate sprints in the back third of the mountainous stages, and Evenepoel scooping up points from those marks as well as his stage finishes, he’s moved to within a stage’s worth of points to the Australian.
“There are still a lot of points left, but there are two possible sprints,” said Groves after Stage 18. “Tomorrow we can try to control and also Madrid on the final day.
“It’s obviously a narrow lead on Remco. But there are still two good opportunities for us.”
Evenepoel has consistently maintained across the course of the race that he isn’t pursuing the green points jersey, despite the way the competition is more set up for climbers with the intermediates and sheer number of mountain stages than recent seasons.
The Belgian also sprinted for a few intermediates against Groves early in the race, when he was battling for seconds in the general classification. Deliberately or not, Evenepoel has moved to within striking distance of Groves late in the race.
“I believe him 100 per cent (Ed: that he’s not targeting the jersey), but if he wins the stage, he’s taking points unintentionally, there are no hard feelings,” said Groves of Evenepoel.
“There are no gifts at this Vuelta, and it’s good to see he’s bounced back after losing his GC.”
Groves has headed this off with smart riding from himself and teammates, jumping in the breakaway on two separate occasions on Stage 16 to ensure he got the points on offer at the intermediate sprint.
They also rode hard on Stage 15 to try and bring things back for a sprint at the finish with Evenepoel present in the breakaway, ultimately unsuccessful, but showing intent.
Flat stage finishes offer more potential points than the mountain wins that Evenepoel has been amassing, and a decent result on one of the stages for Groves will effectively, if not mathematically take the classification out of reach.
That will mean that the 24-year-old from Gympie will become the first Australian winner of the points jersey at La Vuelta.
The green jersey is an important one in Australian road cycling history, with it being the main focal point of Australian ambitions in the late 90’s and early 00’s before consistent general classification riders like Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers came upon the scene.
Groves will be joining Michael Matthews (2017 Tour de France, Robbie McEwen (2006 & 2002 Tours de France), Baden Cooke (2003 Tour de France) and Cadel Evans (2010 Giro d’Italia) as winners of the points classification at a Grand Tour. Elite company for the 24-year-old.
Stages 19 and 21 will offer an opportunity for Groves to put an exclamation point at the end of his green jersey campaign.
La Vuelta continues with Stage 19, a 177-kilometre course from La Bañeza to Íscar that should suit the remaining sprinters. Watch from 10.55 AEST on SBS VICELAND and SBS On Demand.
