Kaden Groves proved that he is much more than a sprinter on the penultimate day of the 2025 Tour de France as he attacked his breakaway companions in the closing stages to win solo in Pontarlier.
Stage 20 always looked likely to be for the early attackers and so it proved as a strong pack stayed away from the peloton containing yellow jersey Tadej Pogačar, who rolled in more than seven minutes behind.
Alpecin-Deceuninck's Groves was both the strongest and the smartest in the leading group and made his move with 16km to go. Frank van den Broek (Picnin-PostNL) was his closest pursuer, finishing second ahead of Pascal Eenkhoorn (Soudal-QuickStep) in third.
The breakaway splintered due to a crash in the final 25km, leaving Groves out front with Van den Broek and Briton Jake Stewart (Israel-Premier Tech). Groves, known much more as a rider who is suited to the the bunch sprint, made a tentative move away from his less-experienced rivals who looked at each other to chase giving the Australian the chance to take the biggest win of his career.
"There's so many emotions to win here," Groves said in the TV interview after the finish.
"The team, we came here with so many different plans with Jasper [Philipsen] and Mathieu [van der Poel], and in the end I get my own opportunities and they haven't gone the right way. But today, I mean, I had super legs. And I just suffered to the line and in reward we get a Tour stage."
With his more senior colleagues having left the Tour earlier in the race, Groves became the de facto team lead for the final two stages which suit his characteristics well. He was proud to have made the most of the opportunity and took advantage of the adverse weather out on course.
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"The team gave me the free role the last days. Especially today. We weren't sure whether to go for the stage with myself or save for tomorrow, but in the end, when the rain starts to fall, I always have a super feeling normally in the cold weather."
"It's my first time ever winning solo and it's in a Tour stage. Pretty incredible."
"There's so much pressure at the tour," he continued, "and it's always - having won in the Giro, won in the Vuelta - all I ever get asked is am I good enough to win in the Tour? And yeah, now I have shown them."
Groves near the front of the winning break
(Image credit: Getty Images)
How it happened
14 of the 23 teams of the 2025 Tour de France lined up at the start of stage 20 in Nantua without a stage victory in the race so far. For those not confident in competing over the cobbled climb repeats to Montmatre in the final battle, this was a last chance to raise hands.
With the big mountains all complete for this year’s race, the penultimate stage was scrapped for over a hilly course through the Jura, meaning that it was seen as a chance for the breakaway. It took more than 90 minutes and 65km, but eventually a group of 13 managed to slip away from the bunch.
The group included the likes of Tim Wellens, Matteo Jorgensen, Romain Grégoire, Jordan Jegat (sitting 11th on GC) and Brit Jake Stewart. However, it was only allowed a lead of around two minutes for much of the middle-part of the day due to the efforts of Jayco-AlUla, who had initially made the move before Mauro Schmid crashed. The Australian team hoped to protect the GC top-10 of Ben O’Connor, which was under threat from Jegat.
With 66km to go came the main difficulty of the stage, the second category Côte de Thésy (3.5km at 9%). While Jegat and Harry Sweeny pushed on upfront, a group of nine attempted to use the climb as a launchpad to bridge up from the peloton, with Wout van Aert leading the pursuit.
Soon after, Sweeny left his breakaway companion behind and held a 30-second advantage over the chasing group as the rain began to drop upon the riders. The Van Aert group was stuck in the middle, not making a significant impact on the front of the race.
As the rain became heavier, Sweeny’s lead grew, the Australian looking stronger as he powered into the final hour of racing. It peaked at 50 seconds before the chasers began to co-operate better and chip away at the EF Education First-EasyPost man’s lead.
With 30km left, the chase had split into three groups, with Wellens and Jorgensen out the back. Sweeny’s lead had melted away to 10 seconds and would soon disappear altogether on the final classified climb of the Côte de Longeville to make a leading group of 10. Attacks flew on the final climb, with Iván Romeo, Grégoire and Kaden Groves putting in digs and reducing the group.
The roads were treacherous as the downfall continued. While pushing-on down a descent Romeo and Grégoire crashed, splitting the leading group. Groves, Van den Broek and Stewart led together into the final, undulating 20km - the rest of the breakaway in ones, twos and threes behind. Groves went solo with 16km left, building a good lead as Stewart and Van den Broek failed to agree on who would do the chasing.
Groves was proving that he is much more than a sprinter as he extended his lead towards a minute with a solo Van den Broek the closest pursuer. He stayed strong to join that exclusive club of riders who have won stages in all three Grand Tours.
Behind, the peloton came in more than seven minutes down. Jayco-AlUla had run out of resources, meaning that O'Connor fell out of the top-10 overall, replaced by Jegat.
For the rest, it was one of the easier days of the Tour. The Tour de France peloton will now travel to Paris for a final-day showdown on the Champs-Élysées, via the climb up to Montmatre, to conclude the race for another year.
Results
Tour de France stage 20, Nantua > Pontarlier (184.2km)
1. Kaden Groves (Aus) Alpecin-Deceuninck, in 04:06:09 2. Frank van den Broek (Ned) Picnic-PostNL, +54s 3. Pascal Eenkhoorn (Ned) Soudal-QuickStep, +59s 4. Simone Velasco (Ita) XDS-Astana, +1:04 5. Romain Grégoire (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 6. Jake Stewart (GBr) Israel-Premier Tech 7. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies 8. Tim Wellens (Bel) UAE Team Emirates-XRG 9. Matteo Jorgensen (USA) Visma-Lease a Bike 10. Harry Sweeny (Aus) EF Education First-EasyPost, all same time
General classification after stage 20
1. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates-XRG, in 73:54:59 2. Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Visma-Lease a Bike, +4:24 3. Florian Lipowitz (Ger) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +11:09 4. Oscar Onley (Gbr) Pinic-PostNL, +12:12 5. Felix Gall (Aut) Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, +17:12 6. Tobias Halland Johannessen (Nor) Uno-X Mobility, +20:14 7. Kévin Vaquelin (Fra) Arkéa-B&B Hotels, +22:35 8. Primož Roglič (Slo) Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, +12:49 9. Ben Healy (Ire) EF Education-EasyPost, +28:02 10. Jordan Jegat (Fra) TotalEnergies, +32:42
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Dan Challis is a freelance journalist based in the Scottish Borders. As well as writing for Cycling Weekly and CyclingNews, Dan also writes a weekly newsletter called Global Peloton.
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