Key Takeaways: Vuelta a España Stage 11

Breaking down how a risky leadout strategy paid off & if the lurking threat of COVID could affect how the GC favorites approach the major mountain stages to come

Kaden Groves capped off a picture-perfect leadout strategy from his BikeExchange team by winning an extremely high-speed sprint on stage 11 of the Vuelta over Danny van Poppel and Tim Merlier among the stunningly arid landscape of southern Spain. The 23-year-old Australian benefited from his team’s dominant leadout, which aimed to keep the inexperienced Groves as close to the front on the run-in as possible, and a relatively easy stage whic

h created a sprint finish that benefitted the youthful pure quickness of Groves over the strength of his older rivals.

The fight for the GC took the day off, but the top ten overall was shaken up by the surprise pre-stage withdrawals of Simon Yates and Pavel Sivakov, who both tested positive for COVID. While contenders further placed on the overall standings have so far dodged any infection, the sudden and unceremonious exit of two main players was a reminder that this Vuelta could be turned on its head at any moment between now and stage 21 in Madrid.

Stage Top 3:
1) Kaden Groves +0
2) Danny van Poppel +0
3) Tim Merlier +0

GC Top 10:
1) Remco Evenepoel +0
2) Primož Roglič +2’41
3) Enric Mas +3’03
4) Carlos Rodríguez +3’55
5) Juan Ayuso +4’53
6) João Almeida +6’45
7) Miguel Ángel López +6’50
8) Tao Geoghegan Hart +7’37
9) Ben O'Connor +7’46
10) Thymen Arensman +8’44

Stage 11 Notebook:

62km: Julian Alaphilippe crashes on a mid-stage corner. The fall results in an injury, which appears to be a broken collarbone, and causes Alaphilippe to pull out of the race and leave race-leader Evenepoel with just five teammates.

3.1km: As the pace starts to ramp up heading into the finish, BikeExchange gets to the front with their young sprinter Kaden Groves. This strategy of getting to the front this early is risky, but BikeExchange clearly thinks it’s worth it in order to keep Groves from being blocked in through the final 500 meters yet again.

1.3km: BikeExchange has burned an immense amount of energy to stay at the front with just over a kilometer remaining. Notice just how much further Groves is than his sprinter rivals, most of whom aren’t even in the picture at this point.

1.2km: When we play forward from the above freeze frame, we see a lone Alpecin rider shoot through the gap between BikeExchange and Bahrain. However, the rider is moving far too fast for Merlier to stay on his wheel, which means his sprinter remains stuck down in the field while his teammate hits the front to do work for BikeExchange, seemingly without realizing his sprinter is stuck behind.

350m: Due to the help from Alpecin, BikeExchange is able to remain on the front over halfway through the final km. Groves, who hasn’t wasted any energy fighting for position, is tucked into second wheel at the front while Mclay, Pedersen, Van Poppel, and Merlier all fight their way up.

300m: John Degenkolb launches his sprint extremely early, which allows an isolated and out-of-position Mclay to jump on his wheel. Groves, due to his superior position, simply has to hold his pace and allow the riders coming from behind to pass him so he can be in prime position for the sprint. Merlier is still hopelessly out of position buried deep behind.

200m: Juan Sebastián Molano from UAE launches off of Degenkolb, but his lookback tells us he clearly isn’t confident in holding off the others behind. Merlier finally emerges at the bottom of the frame while Groves launches from behind Mclay. Van Poppel is in the perfect position on Groves’ wheel, but the Australian’s acceleration is so intense that it creates separation and leaves Van Poppel stuck in between Degenkolb and Pedersen.

125m: If we freeze the video, we see Groves and Mclay are equal, but Groves is traveling at a much higher rate of speed due to just having been slingshot out of Mclay’s slipstream. Pedersen has been swarmed and is now out of contention for the win, while Van Poppel and Merlier are fighting their way through the traffic but are too far behind a flying Groves.

100m: When played forward, we can see just how far Groves is going when he hits open space. And even though Van Poppel, who executes an insane move to get by Mclay, and Merlier are traveling faster than him by the time they approach the finish line, they simply started too far behind him to overtake him for the win.

Finish: Groves holds on for the stage win while Van Poppel, the fastest rider in the sprint, comes by Merlier for 2nd place.

Key Takeaways: