Stage 11 - Vuelta: Groves wins sprint on the Gulf of Almeria

The German veteran John Degenkolb tried a long sprint on the Gulf of Almeria and ended up in seventh place. "I was in a good position and saw that there were still 300 metres to go. That's when I put my heart into it. In the end I'm happy, although of course it could have gone a bit better. At the moment I just can't beat the guys," said Degenkolb.

Evenepoel defends red jersey

As expected, there were no changes in the overall standings. Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel is 2:41 minutes ahead of defending champion Primoz Roglic. The Slovenian has won the last three editions of the Vuelta and would catch up with record winner Roberto Heras with a fourth victory. The Spaniard's last victory in 2005 was initially disallowed due to doping, but was restored after a technicality.

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Meanwhile, the next prominent riders had to end the race early. British rider Simon Yates did not start the eleventh stage on Wednesday due to a positive corona test. This was announced by his team BikeExchange. The 30-year-old had won the race in 2018 and was in fifth place in the classification. Pavel Sivakov, who finished ninth overall, suffered the same fate as Yates, as his team Ineos-Grenadiers announced. Second-placed Team Kern Pharma reported three positive tests.

On Tuesday, two-time stage winner Sam Bennett from the German team Bora-hansgrohe had already had to abandon the race after testing positive for coronavirus. This brought the number of coronavirus cases at the Vuelta to 19, compared to 17 withdrawals due to positive coronavirus tests at the Tour de France in July.

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