'A very different emotion' - Sprinter Kaden Groves moves out of comfort zone at Tour de France for first breakaway victory

Kaden Groves ticked a lot of boxes in Pontarlier on Saturday, as the Alpecin-Deceuninck fast man moved out of his usual hunting ground of bunch sprints to secure his first victory from a breakaway out of 21 wins as a professional on stage 20 of the Tour de France on Saturday.

The 26-year-old had plenty of other reasons for Saturday's win to feel special: not only riding his first Tour de France, but his triumph also allows him to join the select club of riders who have taken stages in all three Grand Tours.

The last three wins for Groves have been in Grand Tours - in Santander in the Vuelta a España last September, the Giro d'Italia in Naples this May, and now in the Tour de France.

Equally impressive is that this last win also puts the 26-year-old into double figures for stage victories in Grand Tours, with seven in the Vuelta and two in the Giro in addition to his Tour stage, bringing his tally to 10.

In yet another reason for Groves to celebrate, he claimed Alpecin-Deceuninck's third win in the Tour de France, adding to their success.

It is also a considerable boost to team morale as well, given that the team's other stage winners, Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, had to abandon due to injury and illness, respectively.

"I'm incredibly happy and proud of this team," Groves said after celebrating the 21st win of his career.

"We had a great start, winning two stages and a number of days in yellow, but we had a number of super low points, too, losing Jasper and Mathieu, so it's been quite a roller coaster for the team."

"On a personal note, I knew I hadn't been sprinting super well. But in the end of a third week of a Grand Tour, I have been handling mountains well" - Groves was second in Rome this May after a brutally tough third week in the Giro - "and today I thought I'd try my chances in the break. It might not happen again for me, but it's incredible to win solo."

But Pontarlier was not just a milestone personal and team success either: it was Australia's second Tour stage win in three days after Ben O'Connor's (Jayco-AlUla) win on the Col de la Loze. Groves has also made his way into the Tour's record books with his victory, becoming the first sprinter to win solo from a breakaway since 'The Tashkent Terror', as 1980s and 1990s fastman Djamolidine Abdoujaparov was known, won alone in Tulle in the 1996 race.

Groves said he hadn't deliberately planned to get in a solo move late in the day. Part of a 13-man breakaway after a ferocious early struggle, the cards simply fell his way with some 15 kilometres to go when he least expected it.

"I didn't even attack, I believe [fellow late breakaways] Frank van den Broek and Jake (Stewart) just looked at each other - maybe they were having a conversation, but I found myself with a gap. I didn't even know I had it til I looked back.

"Then I just had to pace myself, but as there were only 15 kilometres left, I really had to go as hard as possible to the line.

"I can't say I had too much time to enjoy myself in the final kilometres, I was so completely empty."

Groves said he found his emotions to be "very different" to winning in a bunch sprint. "You don't have time to think. I've never been in this situation before.

"I was so focused on riding for the line, I thought I'd enjoy it afterwards. But those last kilometres were certainly not enjoyable."

Like Groves, the Alpecin-Deceuninck team management were equally amazed and delighted with the way Groves had moved so successfully out of his usual comfort zone. Longstanding sports director Christoph Roodhooft was awestruck and deeply impressed.

"It's almost unbelievable, we know he's a strong rider, but the way he did it was exceptional," Roodhoft said. "We knew more or less it was within his possibilities, but then I have to be honest and say that I did not really believe in it. However, in terms of today's course," - a tough, but not excessively difficult transition stage - "on paper, it was possible. And he proved it was, of course, by doing it."

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