Like the previous day's stage, stage 5 ended with a bunch sprint - and once again the winner was Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck). The 24-year-old took a commanding victory after 186.2 kilometres between Morella and Burriana ahead of time trial specialist Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers), who got involved in the sprint.
Vuelta a Espana 2023: Kaden Groves describes the finale of stage 5
"That was another hectic finale, lots of roundabouts. There was no climb like yesterday, but the wind played a role. That's why everyone was nervous. My team was fantastic again. We lost two riders in a crash at a roundabout around 2.5 kilometres before the finish. Luckily my rider was still there and we were able to organise ourselves properly," said Kaden Groves in the official winner's interview, describing the finale.
The overall leader's red jersey continues to sit on the shoulders of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step). The Belgian even extended his lead with a bonus at the intermediate sprint.
Vuelta a Espana 2023 - Results: The top 10 of stage 5
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4:23:43
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies) +0:00
- Alberto Dainese (Team dsm-firmenich) +0:00
- Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- David Gonzalez (Caja Rural) +0:00
- Geoffrey Soupe (TotalEnergies) +0:00
- Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH) +0:00
- Jarrad Drizners (Lotto-Dstny) +0:00
The top 10 in the overall standings
- Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) 17:12:29
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +0:11
- Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ) +0:17
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:37
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:39
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:39
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Vimsa) +0:43
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:44
- Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) +0:48
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:48
This is how the 5th stage of the Tour of Spain 2023 went
In the neutralised phase before the official start, Eddie Dunbar (Team Jayco-AlUla), one of the contenders in the classification, crashed. The Brit was later forced to abandon the race. After the start, there were several breakaway attempts, but they were all countered by the peloton before a single breakaway rider, Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH), broke away and dominated large parts of stage 5 of the Tour of Spain 2023. Alpecin-Deceuninck took care of the chase in the peloton to prepare the terrain for yesterday's winner Kaden Groves to take another stage win.
On the climb to the Collado de la Ibola (2nd category), Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto-Dstny) broke away from the peloton, caught up with Fagundez and secured five more points for his mountain jersey. Shortly afterwards, first Fagundez and then Sepulveda were caught by the peloton, which then rolled to the intermediate sprint. There, Remco Evenepoel secured the six bonus seconds and extended his lead in the overall standings.
Around three kilometres before the finish, there was a crash in a roundabout at the front of the peloton, which also involved one of the sprint favourites, Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny). Alpecin-Deceuninck pulled Groves into the sprint in the final kilometre in exemplary fashion. Filippo Ganna came up strongly again, but was unable to catch the Australian.
Read the 5th stage in the blog
The Vuelta continues on Thursday with stage 6. There, the mountain specialists will be in demand for the uphill finish at the Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre.
