2024 Vuelta a España Stage 14 Results & Recap
Stage 14 of the 2024 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Groves Goes Deep
In what was classified as a mountain stage, Visma | Lease a Bike controlled the race from the start in favor of Wout van Aert. The Belgian was unable to repay their faith, as Kaden Groves outsprinted him in Villablino. Ben O'Connor remains in the lead of the GC.
“It feels really good," Groves said. "I didn’t expect it to be a sprint as it was, but Jumbo controlled it, and to have a one-on-one sprint against Wout [van Aert] is awesome. The climb was quite okay in the wheels. It might have been a bit hard if they started attacking, but thankfully, Jumbo rode a really hard pace. No one attacked, and my teammates also got over with me so we could control the finish. The team did a great job. Edward [Planckaert] again did a good lead-out like he did in Sevilla, but today I didn’t hesitate, and I think I did a really good sprint. It felt quite a bit like a drag race against Wout, and in the end, it was good enough to beat him. It’s obviously really nice [to be up to 6 La Vuelta stage wins]. I love racing here. It’s my third Vuelta and my sixth win. It’s good to see the consistency and the hard work paying off.”
Despite several attacks, the peloton was still together at kilometre 45. Then Jhonatan Narváez, Isaac del Toro, Xandro Meurisse, and Marco Frigo gave it a go, while Victor Campenaerts and Harold Tejada managed to bridge across to them.
The six opened up a gap of over 2 minutes before Visma | Lease a Bike took control at the front of the peloton.
The gap was down to 1 minute as the leaders tackled the Puerto de Leitariegos. Frigo, Narváez and Tejada headed out together.
Narváez was the last rider to be reeled in, with 3 kilometres to climb. KOM leader Wout van Aert took the mountain points at the summit.
Kaden Groves finished off a perfect lead-out by Edward Planckaert, as he outsprinted Wout van Aert. The GC remained unchanged with Ben O’Connor in the red jersey.
“There was a couple of attacks anyway [after Roglic had a mechanical]," Ben O’Connor said. "The stage was still there for grabs, and some guys tried to get away. I don’t really know to be honest, it was quite pretty fast down there. For me, yes, it was [a quiet stage]. It took a long time for the break to go, and then Visma did a really excellent job controlling it. It wasn’t simple anyway, so harder than I expected. I wouldn’t have been surprised [because of Kaden Groves’ win]. He can climb so well. He’s really incredible. He’s a talent, he’s a class, and I’m happy that he has won today. I watched the replay of [Cuitu Negru] from 2012. It’s pretty epic. It’s pretty hard. We’ve done some hard climbs and this will be another one to the list.”
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