La Vuelta a Espana 2024 Stage 17 recap: Groves leaves it late to complete hat-trick in sodden Santander

He left it late but in the end Kaden Groves and his Alpecin-Deceuninck team ensured that Stage 17 went to script in sodden Santander.

Four Belgians in the top 10 on a day where the weather probably reminded them of home…

1. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) 3:32:14
2. Pavel Bittner (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
3. Vito Braet (Intermarche-Wanty)
4. Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma)
5. Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)
6. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Dstny)
7. Edward Planckaert (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
8. Mathis Le Berre (Arkes-B&B Hotels)
9. Arjen Livyns (Lotto Dstny)
10. Xabier Berasategi (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

The Czech Pavel Bittner didn’t have enough zip to come past Groves and he takes second place ahead of Vito Braet of Intermarche-Wanty. Pau Miquel and Corbin Strong completed the top five while Campenaerts held on for sixth ahead of the ecstatic Edward Planckaert, who was celebrating his team-mate Groves's win wildly.

And in the end, it stuck to the script as the Australian came to the fore just when it mattered to complete his hat-trick of stage wins on this Vuelta.

Mauro Schmid, Victor Campenaerts and Enzo Leijnse have a small gap on the pack – but surely it won’t be enough.

The Belgian has joined the two leaders. Wow, this is a fascinating finale. They have a small gap.

The Swiss champion Mauro Schmid goes for a long one as the break is swept up – and his brave effort is being joined by a DSM rider. They have a small gap.

The three leaders are looking over their shoulders as they power down a straight road alongside the port. Behind they’ll see the peloton almost breathing down their neck. It’s been a bold and brave effort. But they won’t hold on.

It’s just a matter of time now, and that time will come very soon. Just 15 seconds now for the three leaders as they emerge from a tunnel and back out into the gloom and rain and puddles and cheering umbrellas. Campenaerts, incidentally, is lurking near the front of the pack…

The likes of Ben O'Connor and Primoz Roglic push to enter the safe zone. The gap is 20 seconds but the chase has been disrupted by a succession of roundabouts.

So is Isasi. In fact, only Guernalec is sustaining his pulls on the front. He’ll be the favourite if this move can go the distance, but that’s not looking likely: just 26 seconds now for our trio.

The last 10km have been raced at an average speed of 48.9km. Under the 10km banner goes our three leaders, who still have 33 seconds. DSM and Alpecin still leading the chase.

The Frenchman from Cofidis is the first to be dispatched from the break. No surprise – he looked utterly zonked.

The silky spoken moustachioed Belgian powerhouse managed to open up a small gap but he’s now been brought to heel. The advantage of the break is around 35 seconds. Multiple riders have been jettisoned off the back with speeds up during this sodden schlep into Santander.

Off the front pings Victor Campenaerts and that’s thrown a cat among the pigeons. Is he going for a long-pop or is that to disrupt the chase and therefore help out his team-mate Gregaard up the road. Let’s wait and see. Either way, it’s a bit of drama and we’re all here for it.

A reminder of who our four escapees are: French duo Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-B&B Hotels) and Thomas Champion (Cofidis), Spain's Xabier Isasa (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Denmark's Jonas Gregaard (Lotto Dstny). They've been out pretty much all day and Guernalec buried himself on that last hill while doing his best Tommy Voeckler impression with his tongue hanging out. They're about to swing onto the coast where they'll enjoy a tailwind. But their advantage is now only one minute...

The pack have only taken a handful of seconds in the last five kilometres or so. The pace is high, the peloton all strung out in a single-file snake. You can hear the wind and rain, you can see the piles of water on the road. Umbrellas are up, game faces and grimaces on display, and it’s dark, so very dark, as the leaders take on that next lump.

It’s the Spanish rider who leads the break over the top of a short but spiky climb that looked to really put the hurt into Champion. It will be interesting to see how the peloton tackle this one – will anyone use it as a springboard? Not if the sprinters’ teams are drilling such a tempo. There’s one more small climb left to go before the flat run into Santander. The gap is 1’35”.

Frenchman Thomas Champion (Cofidis) leads the break through the intermediate sprint at Arce but those bonus seconds and green jersey points will mean very little. These four escapees want to contest the stage win - something that looks less and less likely by the minute. Their advantage is 1'37".

When the pack comes through it's Kaden Groves who edges ahead to pocket the 10pts to consolidate his lead in the green jersey standings. But the Aussie sprinter will be far more invested in the final in around 20 minutes' time.