Latest news with #KadenGroves
ABC News
12-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Kaden Groves reaches Tour de France podium, Tadej Pogačar keeps yellow jersey
Australia's Kaden Groves has finished third in stage eight of the Tour de France, with Italy's Jonathan Milan claiming victory. Milan (Lidl-Trek) fought off Belgian Wout van Aert (Visma–Lease a Bike) to win the 171.4 kilometre stage from Saint-Méen-le-Grand, while defending champion Tadej Pogačar did enough to retain the yellow jersey. Riding his first Tour, Milan looked to have been caught off guard when Groves (Alpecin–Deceuninck) hit the front, but the Italian battled back to take the lead and hold off the challenge of Van Aert. Slovenia's Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) remains 54 seconds ahead of Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal–Quick-Step) in the overall standings. Ben O'Connor (Team Jayco AlUla) is the best-placed Australian in the general classification in 20th position, 8:25 adrift of Pogačar. "I have to say it was a bit stressful and I was not expecting it to drag up so much in the last kilometre," Milan said. "I had to wait as long as I could, but I like this kind of finale and I'm really happy for the world that we did. We really deserved it." Stage eight was expected to be a chance for the sprinters to return to the fore on the mostly flat ride. The peloton trundled along for the opening 90km, apart from a brief spurt at the intermediate sprint where Milan took maximum points before French duo Mattéo Vercher and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) launched the first attack. With several teams looking to set up their sprinters for the stage win, the break was never allowed to get too far ahead, though they managed to extend their lead to just over one minute with 20km remaining. Burgaudeau went solo with 13km to go but was reeled in by the chasing pack after 4 kilometres and the tactical game of cat and mouse began. Van Aert took the wheel of Groves as the Australian's team led the bunch into the final kilometre. Groves went early and did not have the legs to hold off Milan, while the Italian was able to withstand Van Aert's late burst. Milan, who is the first Italian Tour de France stage winner since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019, leads the points classification. Stage nine takes the riders 174.1km from Chinon to Châteauroux, a flat route where the sprinters will again fancy their chances. Reuters/ABC
Washington Post
12-07-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Tour de France: Jonathan Milan wins Stage 8 in a sprint finish
LAVAL, France — Italian rider Jonathan Milan timed his attack perfectly to win the eighth stage of the Tour de France in a sprint finish on Saturday. Milan overtook Australian Kaden Groves on his left and held off Belgian rider Wout van Aert to beat him by about half a bike length.
ABC News
07-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Jasper Philipsen crashes out of Tour de France as Alpecin-Deceuninck turns to Kaden Groves
Belgian team Alpecin-Deceuninck could turn to Australian Kaden Groves to lead its Tour de France push after stage one winner Jasper Philipsen was forced to abandon his race after breaking his collarbone. Belgian rider Tim Merlier won the crash-marred third stage in a photo finish and Mathieu Van der Poel kept the yellow jersey. Defending champion Tadej Pogačar and two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard — the main contenders — finished safely as they rolled in together with the main pack. But stage one winner Philipsen abandoned after he broke a collarbone in one of the early crashes. "Philipsen was the victim of something he had nothing to do with," Alpecin-Deceuninck team manager Philip Roodhooft said. "We can't blame the other two directly, either. It was just a stupid crash, something that unfortunately can happen in cycling. And unfortunately, Jasper is paying the price." Roodhooft said the team may turn to Groves to lead its campaign, with the Australian currently sitting in seventh. "It's still too early to say what we're going to do, but we have other good riders. I'm thinking of Kaden Groves, but now is not the time to talk about that," Roodhooft said. "Jasper is still suffering from burns and has been badly bruised, so how we proceed is not the most important thing right now. We have to keep going, and Jasper will want that too, but I'm putting that discussion on hold for now." Merlier just got the front of his wheel in front of Italian Jonathan Milan as they lunged to the line to finish the stage. German rider Phil Bauhaus was third. It was Merlier's second career stage win on the Tour, four years after his first, which also came on stage three. "It was a big battle and it was difficult to maintain my position, I came from very far back in the last 2 kilometres," he said. "When I found myself next to Milan, I knew it would be complicated to beat him." Van der Poel, who rides for the Alpecin-Deceuninck team, did not contest the sprint the day after narrowly beating Pogacar to win Sunday's rainy and hilly second stage. Riders set off in wet conditions and wore light rain jackets on a 178km flat route from Valenciennes to coastal Dunkerque. The pace was slower than the two first days but the conditions were treacherous and, about 50km from the end, Philipsen was knocked over by Frenchman Bryan Coquard and landed heavily on his side. Coquard was not to blame, however, as he lost balance only after being clipped by a rider overtaking him on the right. Beside his broken right collarbone, Philipsen might have two broken ribs, his Alpecin–Deceuninck team said, adding he needed surgery. Coquard looked remorseful when he spoke to media outside the Cofidis team bus after the stage. "I've seen the images again, I really didn't know what happened in the moment," he said. "I would like to say sorry to Philipsen and Alpecin, even if it was not an intentional act." Another crash with 3 kilometres left felled double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who was able to continue. Then, with the finish in sight, a few more crashed — including Coquard, who somersaulted off his bike. The 174km fourth stage is another hilly one for all-rounders like Van der Poel and his former cyclo-cross rival Wout van Aert. It starts from Amiens and ends with five consecutive small climbs to the Normandy city of Rouen. This race is entirely in France, with no stages held abroad as in previous years, and ends on July 27 in Paris. AP/ABC
ABC News
06-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Tour de France stage 1 chaotic, Ben O'Connor crashes, echelons hit main contenders
The Tour de France cannot be won on the first of its 21 stages — but it sure can be lost. Australian Ben O'Connor was one of several riders caught up in crashes on an incident-filled 184.9-kilometre stage starting and finishing in the northern city of Lille Métropole. After Marijn van den Berg crashed in front of him, O'Connor had nowhere to go except over his handlebars, coming down heavily. Fellow Aussie Kaden Groves, who was riding alongside O'Connor, had a lucky escape, bunny-hopping on his front wheel twice before scooting past the stricken van den Berg. "We expected it to be crazy, particularly when we saw the wind direction," Jayco AlUla directeur sportif Matt Hayman told the team's in-house media after the race. "The first day of the Tour de France is always going to be testing, so it lived up to expectations. "Ben did a good job. He was there in the front with [teammate] Luca Mezgec. "Actually, he was trying to stay out of trouble at that moment and sit at the back of the group … and they crashed in front of him and he went over the top." The Jayco AlUla leader lost no time as the crash happened inside the final 5km, and the 29-year-old appeared relaxed in footage showing him warming down after the finish. However, the long-term impacts of losing some skin so early in the race may yet hamper his chances. Official reports stated O'Connor suffered trauma to his right knee. "You never want to crash in the Tour de France," Hayman said. "It could have been a lot worse. He's got some skin off. He's obviously banged up, but he gets the same time as that lead group, so not a bad time for him on GC." The commissaires also fined Jayco AlUla 1,200 Swiss francs ($2,300) for various faux pars during the race: 700 francs for "sticky bottles" — dragging a rider along while holding a bottle from the team car — and 500 francs for Hayman not respecting the instructions of the commissaires on the route. Jasper Philipsen won the stage in a reduced bunch sprint to claim the first yellow jersey of the race, with Aussie lead-out man Groves playing a vital role in the Alpecin-Deceuninck sprint train. Raced at a break-neck speed throughout (the average speed was 47.5 kilometres per hour), the race was split late on after two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard's Visma-Lease a Bike squad put the power down to split the main bunch. "There were echelons and the race split with about 25km to go," Groves told SBS. "That's what we expected actually, and we had numbers in the front [group] who could dictate the race." Favourites Tadej Pogačar and Vingegaard both finished in that lead group, gaining 39 seconds over the group containing other hopefuls Remco Evenepoel and Primož Roglič. "We fell asleep a bit and, I must say, we were a bit too relaxed," Evenepoel told media at the finish. "We kind of believed that the race was just going to be a sprint. "[A] big mistake by us, and it's a pretty unfortunate situation." Olympic champion Evenepoel was perhaps fortunate to stay on his bike. The frantic chase saw plenty of rough and tumble in the peloton which briefly forced the Belgian off the road. The nerves were clear from early in the race, when Mattéo Vercher and Benjamin Thomas crashed while contesting the bonus point at the second categorised climb of the day, although both were able to continue. Others were not so lucky. The fetishisation of crashes in some sections of the media, particularly the Netflix documentary Tour de France Unchained, has been a bone of contention for fans of the sport. But their impacts cannot be ignored. Ineos Grenadiers time trial specialist Filippo Ganna was the first rider to abandon the tour after a crash early in the race. The hour record holder initially remounted but it was later reported that he began to show concussion symptoms and was ordered to stop. Later, Stefan Bissegger and Thibau Nys also crashed, with Bissegger also abandoning the Tour. Nys told Eurosport the crash was "very nasty" and he might struggle to start the race tomorrow. "I had prepared myself for the worst, and I think that's what I got," he said. Facing riders on stage 2 is a 209.1km hilly ride from Lauwin-Planque to Boulogne-sur-mer, where the riders cut through the village of Montreuil-sur-mer, where the hero of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, Jean Valjean, was the fictional mayor.
Times
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
Mads Pedersen in pink despite crash on Giro d'Italia stage six
Kaden Groves sprinted to victory in a rain and crash-affected stage six of the Giro d'Italia in which the race leader, Mads Pedersen, crashed on the slippery roads. The Australian, of Alpecin-Deceuninck, unleashed an almighty sprint in Naples after twisting and turning through the cobbled streets to take his first win of the season ahead of Milan Fretin (Cofidis) and Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step). But even if we expected this 227km stage to be one for the sprinters, the Giro showed once again why it is perhaps the most unpredictable grand tour of the year due to its position in May often throwing up issues outside of the riders' or race director's control — think of Geraint Thomas in pink, riding through Verbier in the torrential rain in 2023. And so it was on stage six when a mass crash caused havoc, forcing some riders to abandon the race, and later a protester ran out in front of the peloton within the final 3km. The crash came with 71km to go on the way from Potenza to Naples as the rain came down and the roads became shiny and the white lines on the tarmac became slippery. As the breakaway's gap was falling to about 45 seconds, Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) apparently slipped while braking in the centre of the peloton and hit the ground hard. Numerous riders came down behind him, including Pedersen and fellow general classifcation (GC) contender Richard Carapaz. Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates) also took a tumble among the masses of riders on the floor, but while most were able to get up and carry on, Hindley sat by the roadside, dazed (perhaps concussed) and making no efforts to stand. Soon after Australian Hindley, the 2022 Giro d'Italia winner, was taken away by the medical team and had to abandon the race. It was a horrible loss for the Giro and as well as a disappointment for the Red Bull rider, it was a blow for Primoz Roglic, the favourite to win the Pink Jersey, who has lost his key lieutenant for the mountains to come. The race was neutralised at this point and rolled on at 20km/h until it was halted completely. And so an argument we're used to having at the Giro d'Italia continued: are wet and slippery roads part and parcel of professional cycling, or are they a risk too far with the speeds of the modern day? The GC teams would have been quite happy to neutralise the entire race but Mauro Vegni, the race director, faces other pressures, including a contract with Naples to bring the race there. The rain wasn't too hard, but the roads were treacherous. If there was enough danger to cause a crash on an innocuous flat, straight road, a sprint finish may well have been deemed too much. A compromise was reached however. The race started again with 58km to go. There was a stage win up for grabs but that was it. All riders would receive the same time as the winner, meaning all GC riders were safe. There would be no points on offer for the points-classification Ciclamino Jersey and there would be no bonus seconds awarded on the finish line. Otherwise the race was back on and the breakaway was given its original gap back. Meanwhile Pedersen, who appeared to be rubbing his right thigh in the peloton after the crash, sat up and dropped behind the leading group. It was clear he wasn't going to complete the sprint finish and wanted to take advantage of the GC neutralisation to avoid any danger. So for the other teams there was a chance for a victory. Cue Visma–Lease a Bike heading to the front of the group chasing down the two-man breakaway of Taco van der Hoorn and Enzo Paleni in service of their sprinter Olav Kooij. With 10km to go, the valiant breakaway, which had got away with 195km to go, still had 24 seconds on the reduced sprinters' peloton. For a moment, as they entered the twisting roads of Naples, it looked as if the breakaway may make it to the finish. But a protester ran out onto the road with 3km to go, disrupting their efforts, and soon the peloton behind had swallowed the breakaway up. The sprint was as messy as the stage itself. Jensen Plowright, Groves's team-mate, went off the front, leaving behind his team in the last kilometre and forcing Wout van Aert to chase him down, only for the Belgian's team-mate, Kooij, to lose his wheel also. Van Aert appeared to make a half-hearted attempt for the line himself but ultimately ran out of steam. Kooij was then in a bad position up against the advertising boards with Matteo Moschetti (who was later relegated from eighth to 176th for his dangerous sprint) and had nowhere to go so was forced to sit up. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Meanwhile Groves had clear air to lay down the power we've been waiting to see since he returned from injury this year. 'Its a big relief,' Groves said after the race. 'The team always believes in me and its not been a great start to the season with the injury, I missed a lot of racing and I was arriving here without a win — so getting the first one of the year is a big relief. 'We needed to use some guys early to close the breakaway and they did a super ride, and in the end I still had two team-mates, Plowright and [Edward] Planckaert, who did a super job.' For Pedersen — who rolled in ten minutes behind — holding on to the Pink Jersey was something of a poisoned chalice. He had to complete the usual leader's press conference as well as attend a special reception with politicians and military representatives before one of the longest transfers of this year's Giro d'Italia, a two hour drive between Naples and Castel di Sangro. There, the race will enter the mountains on the route to Tagliacozzo, where Pedersen is expected to relinquish the jersey as the GC competition truly kicks off.
