Vuelta a España: Kaden Groves outkicks Filippo Ganna to win stage 5

Vuelta a España 2023: Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck wins stage 5 (Image credit: JOSE JORDAN / AFP via Getty Images)

Vuelta a España 2023: Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wins sprint finish on stage 5 (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck (left) stretches at line to win stage 5 and holds off Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck (Left) and Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers cross the finish line with Groves taking the victory, his second in two days (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Dries Van Gestel of TotalEnergies crosses the finish line for third place (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

A general view of the peloton compete passing by a Les Useres village during the 184.6km stage 5 headed to Burriana (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Race leader Remco Evenepoel of Soudal-QuickStep rides in the Red Leader Jersey (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

A general view of the peloton passing through mountain landscape during stage 5 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Eduardo Sepulveda of Lotto Dstny, in the polka dot Mountain Jersey, made the breakaway for more KOM points but was reeled back with 35km to go (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Eric Antonio Fagundez of Burgos-BH competes in the early breakaway, but was caught with 40km to go (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Primož Roglič of Jumbo-Visma rides in peloton with Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers behind (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Egan Bernal of Ineos Grenadiers takes on a musette in the feeding area during stage 5 (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Michael Storer rides in front of Groupama-FDJ teammate Lewis Askey in peloton (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Jonas Vingegaard rides in front of Jumbo-Visma teammate Primož Roglič (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Enric Mas ushered along stage 5 by Movistar teammates (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Eddie Dunbar of Jayco AlUla crashes in the neutral zone just before the start of stage 5 and withdrew from the race (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Stage 5 winner Kaden Groves, in the Green points jersey, celebrates with Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates Edward Planckaert, Jimmy Janssens, Samuel Gaze, Tobias Bayer, Maurice Ballerstedt, Jason Osborne, Robbe Ghys (Image credit: Tim de Waele/Getty Images)

Kaden Groves of Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrates at podium as stage 5 winner in Burriana (Image credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) made it two for two in sprint stages at the 2023 Vuelta a España, winning stage 5 in Burriana.

The Australian's main challenge was the only surprise on the day as Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) surged from fifth wheel but was not quick enough to pass Groves. Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies) was third.

"It’s a fantastic feeling, the second win of this Vuelta, and two in a row," said Groves. "At the end, it was a pretty hectic final today, similar to yesterday but without climbing.

"The wind made it quite nervous but my team was fantastic again. We lost three guys in a crash with 2.5km to go but luckily my lead out was still there and we could organise for the final."

The general classification contenders took a back seat to the sprinters for the second day in a row, mostly saving their legs for the next summit finish on Thursday.

Race leader Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) provided the only action in the GC standings, taking the intermediate bonus sprint to extend his overall advantage by six seconds. 

Evenepoel now leads the Vuelta by 11 seconds ahead of Enric Mas (Movistar), with Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) still in third at 17 seconds.

How it unfolded

After the huge crash on stage 4, the Vuelta a España lost several riders before the start: Kobe Goossens (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) to a knee injury, Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) to a fractured scapula, and Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) with a broken collarbone. On Wednesday after a crash in the neutral zone, Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla) crashed out before the hilly roll out from Morella, and his teammate Filippo Zana abandoned soon after.

After a pair of attacks, from first Sean Quinn (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jarrad Drizners (Lotto-Dstny) then Stefan Bissegger (EF Education-EasyPost) and Sean Flynn (dsm-firmenich), after about 10km of racing the day's breakaway honours went to solo escapee Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH), who faced the prospect of the rest of the 186.5km route to Burriana on his own.

The sprinters' teams were happy to let the Uruguayan cook in the heat, letting his gap go out to five minutes before very slowly reeling the lone escapee for the next 100km. Fagundez climbed the category 2 Collado de Ibola (11.4km at 3.9%) - the only classified climb on the day - with a lead of a minute on the bunch. However, mountains leader Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto Dstny) attacked from the chasing peloton and passed the Burgos-BH rider to take the maximum points.

With 41km to go, Fagundez was back in the peloton and, a few kilometres later, they reeled in Sepulveda, too.

The next excitement came at the intermediate time bonus sprint with 11.2km to go, where race leader Evenepoel leapt away to take out the six-second bonus over Groves and Casper Pedersen (Soudal-QuickStep).

A crash at a roundabout inside 3km to go added to the nerves in the peloton but Evenepoel stayed near the front with his Soudal-QuickStep team until the flamme rouge before sitting up.

Alpecin-QuickStep came forward with a huge lead-out for Groves in the final 500m and Ganna made a surge to try to snatch the stage win, but Groves was a hair quicker and sprinted to his second stage victory in a row.

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