Australian Kaden Groves wins Tour de France Stage 20
PONTARLIER – Australian Kaden Groves completed his set of grand tour stage wins when he prevailed on the Tour de France's penultimate ride, avoiding a crash on slippery roads before powering to a solo triumph on the 184.2km journey from Nantua on Saturday.
Groves's bike-handling skills were on display when he managed to stay up as Spain's Ivan Romeo and France's Romain Gregoire skidded out of control in front of him on a wet descent 21 kilometres from the finish.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider then attacked from a reduced breakaway bunch and never looked back in the remaining 17 kilometres, bursting into tears in a mix of disbelief and exhaustion after the line.
'They gave me the free role the last days, specially today, we weren't sure whether to go for this stage with myself, or save it tomorrow, but when the rain starts to fall, I always have a super feeling,' said Groves.
'I mean, there's so much pressure at the Tour and it's always.... having won in the Vuelta and the Giro, I always get asked whether I'm good enough to win in the Tour?
'I tried to play my cards right to get an early move. Obviously, the start was incredibly difficult. But then when I made the break, it's yeah, about making the selection.
'And yeah I have a gap of 16 kilometres to go and I rode full until the final 200 metres. Yeah, I'm gonna enjoy this one. I'm gonna celebrate with my team tonight. And yeah, I'm gonna enjoy the Champs tomorrow.'
Groves, who gave his team their third victory in this year's Tour after Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel also won, has seven Vuelta and two Giro d'Italia stage wins to his name.
He becomes the 114th rider to win a stage at all three Grand Tours.
Dutchman Frank van den Broek took second place, 54 seconds behind, with his compatriot Pascal Eenkhoorn third, five seconds further back.
Defending champion Tadej Pogacar spent a quiet day in the main peloton and made another step towards a fourth Tour title as he retained his overall leader's yellow jersey with a 4:24 advantage over Denmark's Jonas Vingegaard.
The final stage is a 132.3km ride from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris, where the peloton will cycle up the famous Butte Montmartre three times before the final laps on the Champs-Elysees. REUTERS
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