Despite Filippo Ganna’s strong charge in the last meters of stage five, Kaden Groves won his second stage in as many days.
The Australian took the lead in the points classification after winning stage four in a thrilling sprint finish on Tuesday.
The red jersey of overall race leader was kept by Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel.
After picking up six seconds in a bonus sprint near the end of the 186.5-kilometer stage to Burriana, he finished with the rest of the pack.
This means that Evenepoel has increased his lead in the general classification to 11 seconds over Enric Mas, who is currently in second place.
Third-placed Lenny Martinez is only 17 seconds behind the leader, and fourth-placed Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard is now 37 seconds back.
A win for Groves would give him a firmer grasp on the green jersey.
“It’s a great feeling, especially with the green jersey,” Groves exclaimed after his second victory in this year’s Vuelta.
In the end, today’s final was just as frenetic as yesterday’s, only there was no climbing involved. It was a little unnerving due to the wind and the roundabouts, but my squad did great as always.
Stage six, which covers 183 kilometers from La Vall d’Uixo to Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre, brings the race back to the mountains on Thursday.
Stage five results
1. Kaden Groves (Aus/Alpecin-Deceuninck) 4hrs 23mins 43secs
2. Filippo Ganna (Ita/Ineos Grenadiers) Same time
3. Dries van Gestel (Bel/Totalenergies)
4. Alberto Dainese (Ita/Team DSM-Firmenich)
5. Lewis Askey (GB/Groupama-FDJ)
6. Edward Theuns (Bel/Lidl-Trek)
7. David Gonzalez (Spa/Caja Rural-Segurosrga)
8. Geoffrey Soupe (Fra/TotalEnergies)
9. Jesus Ezquerra (Spa/Burgos-BH)
10. Jarrad Drizners (Aus/Lotto Dstny)
General classification after stage five
1. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/SoudalQuickStep) 17hrs 12mins 29secs
2. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar Team) +11secs
3. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama – FDJ) +17secs
4. Jonas Vingegaard (Den/Jumbo-Visma) +37secs
5. Alexsandr Vlasov (Rus/Bora – Hansgrohe) +39secs
6. Cian Uijtdebroeks (Bel/Bora – Hansgrohe) Same time
7. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Jumbo-Visma) +43secs
8. Juan Ayuso (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +44secs
9. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +48secs
10. Joao Almeida (Por/UAE Team Emirates) Same time
