The final Grand Tour of the year is just around the corner: La Vuelta. After delivering results at the Tour de France, Alpecin-Premier Tech now want to make their mark between Monaco and Granada as well. The team is counting on former two-time points classification winner and seven-time Vuelta stage winner Kaden Groves, who despite a difficult year is determined to bring the team success, and perhaps even dreams of more.

After a season plagued by injury setbacks, the Australian feels good again and is ready to give everything at the Tour of Spain. "I feel good. I've had a solid training camp, and my first race back in Hamburg went well too. Not the result, but the fact that I was racing on the bike again."

Groves is keen to carry that good feeling into the Vuelta, though he's well aware that sprint opportunities will be limited. "There aren't that many opportunities, especially not in the opening days, but we're still going to try to get results. We have a strong team: a mix of experience and young talent like Lindsay De Vylder and Sente Sentjens, who will normally take care of my lead-out. In the mountains too, we should be well equipped with Ramses De Bruyne and Gal Glivar."

Groves is naturally hoping to deliver himself too: "It's been a tough year, so a stage win would be huge, that's the main goal for me. Maybe we can also see how the fight for the points jersey unfolds, though that will obviously be a tough battle against riders like Wout van Aert and Mads Pedersen. Hopefully we can just win a stage, whether that's me or someone else. It doesn't matter who."

Photo: Photo News