Groves Sprints to Tour of Turkey Stage Win!

2022年4月11日

Team BikeExchange-Jayco continued its early season momentum with Australian sprinter Kaden Groves winning a stage and taking the overall lead at the Tour of Turkey stage race. In other race action, classics man Michael Matthews scored a hard-fought top-10 finish at the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands.

Groves has been a breakout star for the team this spring. The 23-year-old earned his first WorldTour win last month at the Tour of Catalunya in Spain, and he came into the Tour of Turkey in top form.
 
Team BikeExchange-Jayco had targeted sprint stages at the eight-day WorldTour race as its main objective. After a third-place finish on the opening stage, Groves delivered on Stage 2. Riding with his CADEX 65 WheelSystem, he avoided several crashes and splits in the field due to heavy winds, then powered past Belgian Jasper Philipsen and Australian Sam Bennett to earn the win.
 
“It’s pretty amazing,” said Groves. “I’m very happy to back up with another win already this season and I can’t thank my team enough today, they did such a good job.”
 
The 156km stage from Selçuk to Alaçati saw an early break of eight riders gain a maximum lead of about two-and-a-half minutes on the main group. Their lead began to drop in the second half of the race as the sprinters’ teams took control.
 
“It was a tailwind coming in from 10km to go, so it was just super-fast,” Groves said. “But we waited and waited until the exit off the big open road with about 4km to go. Everyone knew their role and where they had to take us, it was pretty textbook in the end.”
 
With the win, Groves took over the general classification lead heading into Stage 3. He has a 2-second lead over Philipsen. Stage 1 winner Caleb Ewan of Australia sits third overall, at 4 seconds back.
 
Top-10 at Amstel Gold Race
 
Meanwhile, Matthews continued his fine spring form at the Amstel Gold Race. With the help of a strong team effort, the 31-year-old Australian made all the right moves to contest the finale of the grueling 254km spring classic featuring 33 climbs including three trips over the infamous Cauberg.
 
Matthews, riding with a CADEX 42 WheelSystem, was part of a small, select group of favorites that finished just behind several riders who broke away just after the final ascent of the Cauberg climb to take the podium spots. The Australian ended up sprinting for seventh, adding to a string of top finishes for him at the Amstel Gold Race.  

Share