After the tough mountain finish the day before, the fourth stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2023 came down to a bunch sprint after 184.6 kilometres between Andorra la Vella and Tarragona. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) had the fastest legs and came out on top ahead of Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) and Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek). Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) defended the overall leader's red jersey.
"That was a tough day. Only dsm-firmenich helped us with the tracking work. But my team was fantastic, always in the right place at the right time. And that paid off with the victory," said Kaden Groves in the official winner's interview.
It was Kaden Groves' second stage win in the Tour of Spain. In 2022, the Australian had won the 11th stage of the Vuelta. In 2023, the sprinter, who has been riding for Alpecin-Deceuninck since this year, had already won a stage at the Giro d'Italia. With his success in Tarragona, Groves also takes the lead in the Vuelta points classification.
Vuelta 2023 - Results: The top 10 of stage 4
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 04:05:41
- Juan Sebastian Molano (UAE Team Emirates) +0:00
- Edward Theuns (Lidl-Trek) +0:00
- Milan Menten (Lotto-Dstny) +0:00
- Dries van Gestel (TotalEnergies) +0:00
- Orluis Aular (Caja Rural) +0:00
- Hugo Page (Intermarche-Circus-Wanty) +0:00
- Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Sean Flynn (Team dsm-firmenich) +0:00
- Andrea Vendrame (AG2R-Citroën Team) +0:00
How the 4th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2023 went
Immediately after the start, three escapees broke away from the peloton: Eduardo Sepulveda (Lotto-Dstny), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) and David Gonzalez (Caja Rural). However, the sprinter teams hardly let the trio get further away than 2:30 minutes.
Sepulveda secured the two 3rd category mountain classifications on the way and took the lead in the special classification, in which he was previously level on points with Evenepoel. With 19 kilometres to go, however, the breakaway was over. The peloton caught up with the three riders at the front. Then things got hectic. Around four kilometres before the finish, there was a mass crash on a wide road. Among those affected were Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious).
As expected, the 4th stage ended in Tarragona with a bunch sprint. This was chaotic. In one of the last bends, a rider from EF Education EasyPost misjudged and crashed into a balustrade, a rider from Alpecin-Deceuninck crashed into him. Juan Sebastian Molano then opened the sprint very early - too early. The Colombian's legs fell asleep. Kaden Groves passed him in the final metres and secured the first stage win for Alpecin-Deceuninck in the 2023 Tour of Spain.
