Vuelta 2023: Dainese wins bunch sprint on stage 19 - Groves crashes at the finish
Sebastian Lindner
· 15.09.2023
The Australian lost his balance after his rider Tobias Bayer hit the rear wheel of the train of EF Education EasyPost touched and two riders of winner Dainese (Team dsm-firmenich) with him. Groves also had to brake sharply and get off his bike, but managed to avoid a crash.
Meanwhile Ineos Grenadiers Ganna's move for the time trial world champion almost unchallenged, but the 27-year-old was ultimately too early in the wind and had to let Dainese pass. Third place went to EF man Marijn van den Berg, who catapulted to the front on the winner's rear wheel.
At this point, you will find external content that complements the article. You can display and hide it with a click.
In the absence of his boss Groves, Maurice Balelrstedt seized the opportunity and sprinted to a strong 6th place. The German made the best of a difficult situation. With Jonas Koch (Bora-Hansgrohe), a second German sprinted into the top 10.
The top 10 of the day
- Alberto Dainese (Team dsm-firmenich) 3:42:09
- Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) +0:00
- Davide Cimolai (Cofidis) +0:00
- Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar) +0:00
- Maurice Ballerstedt (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Hugo Hofstetter (Arkea-Samsic) +0:00
- Fernando Barcelo (Caja Rural - Seguros RGA) +0:00
- Jonas Koch (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
Nothing changed in the overall standings. Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) continues to lead the classification, which is dominated by his team, ahead of the final difficult stage tomorrow. The distribution of the other classification jerseys has not changed either. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) is still the best young professional. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) has secured the mountain jersey. And although Groves was unable to extend his lead as planned, he continues to ride in green.
The top 10 of the Vuelta overall standings
- Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) 69:14:04
- Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) +0:17
- Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) +1:08
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +4:00
- Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) +4:19
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +4:30
- Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bora-Hansgrohe) +7:37
- Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +8:35
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +10:20
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) +12:20
This was the 19th stage of the 2023 Vuelta
Shortly after the start of the 177.5 kilometre flat section with the finish in Iscar, Clément Davy (Groupama-FDJ), Paul Lapeira (AG2R-Citroën Team), Mathis Le Berre (Arkea-Samsic) and Michal Schlegel (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) to add a little spice to the otherwise uneventful stage. Apart from Davy, the trio had already tried to break away from the peloton immediately before the successful manoeuvre. However, the first attempt was stopped.
However, the peloton did not react to the second attack and let the escapees, who were exposed to a constant crosswind, go. However Alpecin-Deceuninck the lead quite short. After an initial lead of just under three minutes, he then fluctuated unusually strongly between one and two and a half minutes.
The closer the intermediate sprint came with 19 kilometres to go, the smaller the gap was for Alpecin. But Groves' team took a gamble and didn't reckon with the tough resistance of the escapees, who were almost caught ten kilometres before the sprint. But only almost. Three of the escapees were brought back in time by Groves' helper Jason Osborne and Co., but Davy was able to cross the line ahead of the sprinting Australian.
Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan Team) took advantage of the little breather in the peloton and launched an attack, making it to the 10-kilometre mark. After that, it all came down to the expected bunch sprint.
