Kaden Groves has claimed his Maiden Tour de France victory with a beautiful late solo attack from 16 kilometers on a hilly stage of 184.2 km from Nantua to Pontarlier.
The Australian, who has already won stages in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España, burst into tears after exceeding the line, overwhelmed by claiming the victory.
“There is so much pressure on the Tour,” Groves said at the finish.
“After I won in the Giro, won in the Vuelta, I was just asked if I am good enough to win during the Tour.
“And now I have shown them.”
Kaden Groves was overwhelmed by emotion at the finish. ((Getty Images: Thibault Camus))
Normally a sprinter and used to winning in a bunch of sprint, this was the first professional victory of the Queenslander in this way.
Colleague Aussie Harry Sweeny had tried his own solo attack and opened a 40 -second gap before he was led by a select group at the front of the race.
With 24 km to go, while the rain fell heavily on the riders, Romain Grégoire and Iván Romeo both fell heavily on a wet descent to put pressure on their fellow in -touch.
That split the lead group and, with 16 km, Groves took the initiative and broke Solo away.
He is the third other phase winner of Alpecin-DECEUNINCK and the 114th rider to win a stage at all three Grand Tours, with seven phase victories in the Vuelta and two in the Giro to deal with his Maid Tour victory.
Race leader Tadej Pogačar ended safely in the peloton, after he had sealed his third king of the Mountains Classification Prize.
Pogačar, with a lead of 4:24 about Jonas Vingegaard, will now probably seal a third Tour de France Crown in Paris on Sunday and a complete catastrophe will arise.
“I am more or more sure of my overall victory, but I still don’t want to say anything about it,” said Pogačar.
“I want to stay focused until I have exceeded the finish line in Paris.
“That is one of the most beautiful parts of this sport. We are 180 boys who ride in the mountains for weeks and in the end we suddenly get to the streets of one of the largest cities in the world.”
Jonas Vingegaard, on the right, may have admitted that he will not regain his Tour de France. ((AP Photo: Mosa’ab Elshamy))
Seveny won the Combativity Award for his work in the escape, but it was bad news for winner of phase 18 Ben O’Connor, who lost ground on Jordan Jegat to fall out of the top 10.
Groves finished 54 seconds ahead of the Dutchman Frank van den Broek.
“There are so many emotions to win here,” said Groves.
“The team, we came here with so many plans with Jasper and Mathieu.
“Eventually I get my own opportunities and they didn’t go the right way.
“Today I had super legs. I just got on the line and as a reward we get a tour phase.”
Groves started the race as a lead-out man for Stage One winner Jasper Phillipsen before he crashed three on stage.
Then Mathieu van der Poel, who won two in phase, withdrew for the last week after the diagnosis of pneumonia.
The final phase of Sunday is a ride from 132.3 km to Paris, where the traditional finish on the Champs-Elysées is seasoned with three climbs from the Montmartre climb, which was shown at the Olympic Games of Paris in 2024 and an estimated half a million spectators flooded the road.
The expected rain in Paris on Sunday has expressed his concern about how the peloton, much larger than the field in the Olympic road race, will tackle the trio of paved climbs.
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