Queensland's Kaden Groves wins his first Tour def France stage
The Gympie-born 26-year-old sprinter is normally renowned for fast finishes, but excelled in the tough and wet slog over the hills to claim an emotional victory from a 13-man breakaway.
The Alpecin-Deceuninck rider surged ahead 16km from home and held on for his first Tour stage win and 10th at major races.
Groves has claimed two bunch sprint stages at the Giro d'Italia and seven at the Spanish Vuelta.
'Today we weren't sure whether to go for the stage or wait for tomorrow but when the rain falls I have a super feeling normally in the cold weather,' an emotional Groves said.
'There's so much pressure at the Tour, and having won in the Giro, having won in the Vuelta, all I ever get asked is am I good enough to win in the Tour? And now I shown them.
'It's my first time winning, so it's pretty incredible.'
In yet another reason for Groves to celebrate, he claimed Alpecin-Deceuninck's third win in the Tour de France, adding to their success.
It is also a considerable boost to team morale as well, given that the team's other stage winners, Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, had to abandon due to injury and illness, respectively.
'I'm incredibly happy and proud of this team,' Groves said.
'We had a great start, winning two stages and a number of days in yellow, but we had a number of super low points, too, losing Jasper and Mathieu, so it's been quite a roller coaster for the team.'
'On a personal note, I knew I hadn't been sprinting super well. But in the end of a third week of a Grand Tour, I have been handling mountains well.'
Runaway overall race leader Tadej Pogacar maintained his lead over Danish rival Jonas Vingegaard ahead of the final stage in Paris.
The Team UAE rider has a 4min 24sec advantage heading into what could be a tricky finale, a 132km ride from Mantes-la-Ville to the Champs-Elysees, but featuring three ascents of the cobbled streets of Montmartre.
'It's starting to sink in,' said the 26-year-old, who previously won the sport's most prestigious cycling stage race in 2020, 2021 and 2024.
'Tomorrow, all being well, I'll be celebrating with my team. This has been another level of hard, all the way. I enjoyed it though and I'm really looking forward to the last day tomorrow.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
A-League: Zinedine Machach leaves Melbourne Victory
Melbourne Victory's 2025-26 A-League title hopes have suffered a blow following the shock exit of French star Zinedine Machach. The 29-year-old midfielder had a season remaining on his Victory contract, but has been released on 'compassionate grounds' by A-League heavyweights. It's understood Machach has accepted a more lucrative deal from a club in Morocco. 'I will look back on my time in Melbourne with fond memories,' Machach said. 'It has been a pleasure to represent the Victory and I would like to thank the club and its fans for making me and my family feel welcomed since I joined. 'I am sad to be leaving, but this decision is the right one for my family and I appreciate the support I have received from the club in making this decision.' Zinedine Machach has been released from his of Melbourne Victory contract. Picture:Machach, who joined the Victory in August 2023 from Greek club Ionikos, scored 14 goals in 64 appearances in all competitions for the Melbourne club. He was part of two Victory grand-final losing teams, and also came up short in last year's Australia Cup decider. Victory director of football John Didulica said Machach had been a 'special player and person for us over the past two seasons'. 'He took to the A-League exceptionally well and played an important part in producing many memorable moments for Melbourne Victory," Didulica said. 'While we are terribly disappointed to lose someone that we are so close to, we know that Zinedine's most important roles in life are that of father and husband, so we support his decision entirely to move closer to family for personal reasons. 'As we say farewell to 'Zizou', we have no doubt that with the talent we currently have and the players we are looking to bring in, we can go one better this season.' Machach is the latest player to part ways with the Victory following the off-season departures of Daniel Arzani (Ferencvaros, Hungary), Ryan Teague (Mechelen, Belgium), Kasey Bos (Mainz 05, Germany), Mitch Langerak (retired), free agent Bruno Fornaroli and loan signing Alex Badolato (Newcastle Jets). Marco Monteverde Sports reporter Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for The Queensland Times, The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Fraser Coast Chronicle and The North West Star. He has covered three FIFA World Cups and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as a host of other major sporting events in Australia and around the world. @marcothejourno Marco Monteverde
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Jeremy Howe OK as Magpies' finals hopes shaken
Collingwood coach Craig McRae slammed his team's lack of fight and effort after their thumping 64-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG on Thursday night as their late-season form slump reached alarming levels. McRae admitted his team was 'rocked' by Jeremy Howe's sickening concussion in the opening minutes, and while concerned at how disorganised the backline looked without Howe, he refused to use the star defender's absence as an excuse. Scans cleared Howe, who was taken to hospital, of any further damage and the club confirmed he was home and 'recovering well' but would enter concussion protocols with a return to play unclear. Jeremy Howe was involved in a sickening collision. Picture:Howe's loss came as the Magpies suffered a fourth loss from the past five matches and, concerningly, all of those defeats have been against top-eight teams. After sitting 10 points clear on top of the ladder a mere five weeks ago, and being in first place for 11 straight rounds, they could drop to fourth by Saturday. All of a sudden they're no guarantee of a double chance after being premiership favourites for the bulk of the season. The usually upbeat McRae couldn't hide his devastation after what he agreed was Collingwood's worst performance of the year. 'I apologise to our Magpie Army,' he said. 'That's a disappointing performance. You can't sugarcoat that. 'We're hurting. That one really hurt. Just a lack of system and then a lack of fight, lack of effort – sometimes at the same time, which leaves us really vulnerable. 'When we get behind, we want to chase. Six goals is not enough for me for our fans to watch at home. I don't know how many kept watching right through the end. 'Your 114,000 members expect a certain amount of effort and we didn't have it.' McRae said he needed to quickly 'glue' his team back together with just two games left before finals. 'We just had some really poor efforts at times,' he said. 'This is the reality of what we've got right now. Like I've always said to our players, nothing's permanent. The Magpies had every right to look dejected. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images 'For a long time I don't recall us having that poor of connection … we got hurt really bad. 'We've got … 19 or 20 100-game players. They know how to play their role. 'We've got to back our system in. It's served us well and under pressure, under adversity, go back to what you know and go do your job and it's up to me to glue them together … and we take responsibility for what we did tonight.' McRae was in 'no doubt' that his players had started thinking about outcomes rather than staying in the moment and focusing on the process. 'You can see it and I call it out when I see it,' he said. 'We come back to minutes and seconds. So we lost a few minutes and seconds tonight, but we've got to stay present to that. When you start to think outcome and expectation, then you're not doing, you're thinking. 'So you come to a stoppage and you're out of the position, we go, 'Hey, come on. What are you doing in that position?' So you start to think more than do.' The Collingwood coach also suspected his players had started going into their shells during games, and he had a simple solution for that. 'If you're quiet, talk,' he said. Craig McRae questioned his players' effort. Picture:'What do you do when you have confidence and have form? Just do that. 'Oh, I'm quiet when I've got no confidence' – well, then, be loud. 'I don't go for my marks' – well, go for your marks. 'I tackle when I've got confidence' – well, tackle. So they're actions, not thoughts. It's right in front of us.' McRae said the early loss of Howe couldn't be used as an excuse for defensive disorganisation. 'Three guys flying at the one ball, spoiling at the same time, is not system, and we've worked on that all pre-season,' McRae said. 'Those things we can fix. The effort stuff I'd like to think is an anomaly.' Despite the worrying trajectory his team is on, McRae remains supremely confident about what Collingwood can achieve this year. 'There's still lots of minutes as far as I'm aware, and we'll make the most of those,' he said.
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
AFL: Danny Daly a potential Demons target
Lions premiership-winning mentor Chris Fagan has endorsed the coaching credentials of Brisbane's football manager Danny Daly, who has been linked with the vacant Melbourne job. Daly has recently been touted as Fagan's eventual successor at Brisbane, having long been considered an AFL senior coach-in-waiting during an extensive career that has included previous roles Collingwood, North Melbourne and Richmond. However, the Lions might have a fight on their hands to hold on to Daly, with his name being touted as a potential permanent replaced for sacked Demons coach Simon Goodwin. Lions football manager Danny Daly is regarded as an AFL senior coach-in-waiting. Picture: Richard Walker 'I know we wouldn't like to lose him, that's for sure, but if it was for something like that, I'd be chairing him out of the place and saying `good luck and go well',' Fagan said on Friday. 'He's been a fantastic help to me from the day I arrived here at this football club, and we're like brothers I reckon. 'We talk a lot about football, and I know he's got that capacity inside him to (be an AFL senior coach) if that's what he wants to do. 'That's completely up to Danny, and others who make those sorts of decisions.' Daly replaced David Noble as Brisbane's head of football in November 2020 having previously been the Lions' strategy coach. Noble left Brisbane to become North Melbourne's senior coach, a position he held until July 2022 when he was sacked by the Kangaroos after 38 games at the helm. Marco Monteverde Sports reporter Marco Monteverde is a Brisbane-based sports reporter for NCA Newswire. He worked in a similar role for The Courier-Mail from 2007 to 2020. During a journalism career of more than 25 years, he has also worked for The Queensland Times, The Sunshine Coast Daily, The Fraser Coast Chronicle and The North West Star. He has covered three FIFA World Cups and the 2000 Sydney Olympics, as well as a host of other major sporting events in Australia and around the world. @marcothejourno Marco Monteverde
