On paper, stage 9 of the Giro d’Italia seemed perfectly suited to Kaden Groves with a tricky final that included repetitive climbs after almost 200 kilometres of racing.
The sprinter has shown that he is on form and can outclimb the other fastmen in the Giro, and so he used his Alpecin-Deceuninck team to control the gap to the breakaway on the second-longest stage of the three-week race. By the time the peloton hit the Intermediate sprint after 158km of racing, the whole eight-man squad was in line at the front. The plan was clear, control the gap, reel the early breakaway in, use the bumpy last third of the stage to dispatch rivals and then, do a lead-out for Groves.
The team was still at the front when the race exploded on the chain of punchy hills around Naples with 40 kilometres to go. The Alpecin pace was enough to dispatch riders off the back including stage 3 winner Tim Merlier (Soudal-QuickStep) and Fabio Jakobsen (dsm-firmenich PostNL).
Everything was going to plan, until it wasn’t.
In a familiar move, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-QuickStep) attacked in the final 25 kilometres and was soon joined by Groves’ teammate Nicola Conci. The pair worked together to catch the early breakaway duo.
Groves was still in the peloton, following some of the attacks that continued to fly off the front, with more riders joining the fray.
The next big attack was by Jhonatan Narváez (Ineos Grenadiers) with 7 kilometres to go, and it took race leader Tadej Pogačar’s effort to reel in the Ecuadorian national champion on behalf of his UAE teammate in the final 200 metres in time for a chaotic small bunch sprint won by Olaj Kooij (Visma-Lease A Bike).
“Quite a hard stage. I actually expected it to be a little bit like this with quite a big group at the finish. The stage was talked up to be really selective but I think everyone is at such a high level that we had a big group in the end,” Groves said.
“And an attack early from Alaphilippe and a number of riders and then in the final, Jonathan Narváez again, super strong.
“In a really hectic, hectic finish to the line and in the end Trek had control but I got beaten by Kooij.”
By the time Narváez was reeled in, an isolated Groves had dropped back too far and just couldn't make his way back to the front on time. He ultimately crossed the line in seventh place.
“I'm pretty disappointed of course. I was probably a bit too aggressive, I was following the attack, thinking that it was such a hard final that maybe a big group could go but in the end, I probably wasted energy and it wasn't good enough again.”
Groves understood the repercussions of using his team to control the peloton from the start of the stage and finding himself with no teammates.
“It's always good to have more help but I used my team early and that was a consequence.”
The Australian is still looking for his first victory of 2024. He came close on stage 4 when he finished second to Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek), and like the other fastmen, missed the opportunity for a stage win when the breakaway made it to the finish line on stage 5.
