A late race breakaway denied Kaden Groves the overall title at the Tour of Estonia as the Australian sprinted to fourth place on the final stage.

Wet conditions made for a hectic day of racing as the peloton tackled a technical 10km circuit in Tartu. With a number of riders close on the general classification, Team BikeExchange-Jayco had to be alert to the barrage of attacks throughout the 164.8km stage as they look to defend Groves’ slender race lead.

As well as covering the attacks, the team also went on the offensive with Alex Edmondson and Alexander Konychev both going clear at various points. However, there was no escape until a two-rider attack went clear on the penultimate lap.

Team BikeExchange-Jayco had little help in chasing the move down, and the attacking duo used the tricky course to their advantage as they held on to contest the win, with Norman Vahtra taking the stage and Evaldas Šiškevičius the overall title.

Behind, Groves sprinted to fourth place from the chasing pack, securing the points competition, but it wasn’t enough to hold onto the yellow jersey with the 23-year-old finishing third overall after three frantic days of racing in Estonia.

Kaden Groves:
“Hats off to the boys today. It’s not easy being the only WorldTour team in the race with everyone looking to us to control. We did our best and in the end two strong riders rode away inside 20km to go. 

Fourth on the stage and third on GC is bittersweet after the commitment from the guys. All of us needed a hard few days racing though, most of us coming off a break from racing it’ll pay in the long run.”

2022 Tour of Estonia Stage 2 – Results:
1. Norman Vahtra 3:51:06
2. Evaldas Šiškevičius ST
3. Patryk Stosz +0:36
4. Kaden Groves (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) ST

2022 Tour of Estonia Stage 2 – Results:
1. Evaldas Šiškevičius 8:05:45
2. Norman Vahtra +0:02
3. Kaden Groves (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) +0:22