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Australia's Kaden Groves sprinted to his third victory of this year's Vuelta a Espana on stage 17 in Santander.

Ben O'Connor maintained his five-second advantage over Primoz Roglic in the leader's red jersey as they finished safely together in the bunch.

But it was a nervous day for the peloton in the rain as they were only able to catch the breakaway inside the final three kilometres of the 141.5km stage from Arnuero.

Several riders made late attacks until Groves' Alpecin-Deceuninck team hit the front with 200 metres remaining.

Groves kicked clear of Pavel Bittner in second, with Vito Braet third, as he claimed victory in the green points classification jersey he inherited after Wout van Aert had to abandon the race following a crash on stage 16.

"It was my last opportunity to win in this race and I had such a motivated team to control the breakaway," said Groves, who also won stages two and 14.

"To repay them with win number three is pretty special."

Thursday's stage 18 from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Maeztu is a 179.5km undulating route that could provide an opportunity for the breakaway to succeed.