Australian Kaden Groves (BikeExchange Jayco) won the eleventh stage of the 77th Vuelta Espana from El Pozo Alimentacion to Cabo de Gata. The sprinter from the antipodes prevailed in the group sprint ahead of the Dutch Danny Van Poppel (Bora Hansgrohe) and the Belgian champion Tim Merlier (Alpecin Deceuninck). The general classification remains unchanged with the Flemish Remco Evenepoel (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl) who maintains 2’43 ”over the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) and 3’01” over the Iberian Enric Mas (Team Movistar).
Even before the start, the day presented itself under a bad star with the announcement of the positivity at Covid of five riders including the English Simon Yates (BikeExchange Jayco), fifth in the general classification, and the Franco-Russian Pavel Sivakov ( Ineos Grenadiers), ninth in the ranking. If you add to this the news of the retirement of world champion Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step Alpha Vinyl) due to a fall 60 kilometers from the finish, a bleak picture emerges. The fraction lived on the escape attempt of three riders: the Dutch Jetse Bol (Burgos BH), the Spanish Joan Bou (Euskatel Euskadi) and the Czech Vojtech Repa (Equipo Kern Pharma). The three forwards, who started after three kilometers, were resumed within fifty minutes of the finish, having reached a maximum advantage of three minutes.
The twelfth act of this edition of the Vuelta will be staged tomorrow. 193 kilometers will be covered in Andalusian territory from Salobrena to Penas Blancas. The last 19 will be characterized by a long climb with an average gradient of 7%, and a maximum of 14%, which should stimulate attacks on the roja jersey.
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