Neither falling in the first of multiple crashes nor the frantic chase to regain contact with the front group that followed could keep an ultra-determined Kaden Groves from capturing a long-sought first stage of the Giro d’Italia on Wednesday.
Groves was one of multiple fallers in a mass pileup with seven kilometres to go, sparked, he said, by the combined effect of “a sprint finish and tight corners where we were all going too fast.”
The Alpecin-Deceuninck sprinter, twice third in previous stages, was hauled back into contention by a combined GC and sprinters chase of the front group. Then after netting a stage of the Vuelta last year, he made a long sprint for the second Grand Tour victory of his career.
Overall leader Andreas Leknessund (DSM) also had an eventful finale, being held up in the same first crash where Groves went down, but as part of the same chase group as the Australian that regained contact, the Norwegian remained in pink for a second day running.
“I don’t know exactly what happened in the crash,” Leknessund said afterwards “people were on the ground and had to get through as quickly as possible because everyone was a bit stressed.
“I came back with that second group. A few other GC sprinters’ teams wanted to close it down, I just tried to stay calm and stay in the group. Then there was a crash that happened to my right side” – when Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) fell – “and luckily I could avoid it. I just hope everybody involved is fine.”
Groves, too, said he was uncertain what happened when he went down in the crash with seven kilometres go, just that “I certainly pulled my front brake too hard, I panicked, I guess, and I came down.”
“Unfortunately, I took [teammate] Alex Krieger down with me, he had been beside me. Thankfully my chain stayed on, and I was lucky enough to come back from the second group to the front. I got back on with three kilometres to go and could contest the sprint.”
Groves said that he did not think the notoriously slick road surfaces of some parts of southern Italy were to blame after the day-long rainfall. It was more, he said, that on a day with a sprint finish, crashes were waiting to happen.
“The roads have been quite OK, I believe they could be slippery, like oily, surfaces with new tarmac, and the rain together, but I’m not sure. I think in this instance, it was just a sprint finish and tight corners where we were all going too fast.”
Being at full speed and fully concentrated…
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