Kaden Groves strikes again at Molins de Rei after a new battle Roglic-Evenepoel
March 25 th 2023 - 20:52 [GMT + 1]
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) earned his second stage victory in the Volta a Catalunya 2023 on the sixth day of the race on Saturday 25 March between Martorell and Molins de Rei. The Australian, who had already won two days earlier in Sabadell, has shown his speed with a thrilling victory after a leg-breaking stage that has offered a new chapter of the duel between the leader Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) and the world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
The sixth stage of the 102nd edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya was open to surprises, in a 174.1 kilometre stage starting from Martorell, European City of Sport 2023, and finishing in Molins de Rei, with a route full of traps and the ascent of the Alt de la Creu d'Aragall (2nd category) in the last 30 kilometres of the stage.
It took almost 100 kilometres to form the breakaway of the day due to the continuous attacks from the peloton on the leg-breaking terrain that took the Volta a Catalunya peloton to Lleida. Precisely at the intermediate sprint in Terres de Lleida (km 66.1), with the peloton still together, the two main protagonists of this Volta have given clues that their battle would continue today disputing the bonus seconds, with leader Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) winning the sprint against Remco Evenepoel, adding one more second to his lead at the top of the general classification.
Geoffrey Couche (Ag2r Citröen), Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Oscar Onley (Team DSM), Fausto Masnada (Soudal-Quick Step), Jonas Gregaard (UNO-X Pro Team) and Simone Velasco (Astana-Qazaqstan) formed the breakaway group, but they had no chance against the push of the big group, one more day determined to continue offering a great show during the whole week of the Catalan UCI WorldTour race.
Catalan Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), who continues to make a better Volta every day and has already risen to fourth place in the general classification, was the first to attack on the first ramps of the Alt de la Creu d'Aragall (2nd category), which was crowned 27 kilometres from the finish line. A move to which world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) was quick to respond, not missing any opportunity to put the race leader to the test.
On the descent towards the intermediate sprint of Pallejà, Evenepoel reached the head of the race with Roglic on his wheel, looking to consolidate a breakaway in which the race leader did not want to collaborate. Surrendering in their particular game of poker, they allowed themselves to be caught before the bonus sprint, in which the world champion responded to the duel of a few kilometres earlier by taking first place ahead of Roglic.
Everything pointed to a sprint finish in Molins de Rei in a reduced group of around fifty riders after the fireworks. And in the city of Baix Llobregat, despite having a flat tyre 4 kilometres from the finish line, Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) managed to repeat his sprint victory two days earlier in Sabadell, beating Frenchman Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Dutchman Ide Schelling (Bora-hansgrohe).
Thus, the Volta a Catalunya 2023 has its resolution open before the final stage this Sunday with start and finish in Barcelona, passing through the Alt de Begues (2nd category) before returning to the capital to face the six climbs in the Castell de Montjuic (2nd category) that will decide the race. Before the final battle, Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) leads the general classification by 10 seconds over world champion Remco Evenepoel and 1:07 over Portugal's Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates).