Lenny Martinez took over as Vuelta a Espaa leader, but Jumbo-Visma regained the lead after a tense sixth stage.
Sepp Kuss, an American riding for Jumbo-Visma, beat out Martinez and a large breakaway group to win Thursday’s mountain stage.
Kuss’s teammates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic overtook the 2022 champion Remco Evenepoel by a margin of 32 seconds.
The Dutch team Jumbo-Visma hopes to make history by becoming the first to win all three Grand Tours in the same calendar year.
In May, 33-year-old Roglic of Slovenia won his first Giro d’Italia, while in July, 26-year-old Vingegaard of Denmark successfully defended his Tour de France title.
Groves wins his second stage in as many days at the Vuelta a Espaa.
On the 183.5-kilometer stage from La Vall d’Uixo to the Javalambre Observatory, Evenepoel and his Soudal Quick-Step squad allowed a group of 40 riders to go six minutes ahead.
With 2.5 kilometers to go, Kuss attacked alone up the last climb and won by a comfortable margin over the 20-year-old French hope Martinez of Groupama-FDJ.
Evenepoel, a 23-year-old Belgian, is currently only five seconds ahead of Vingegaard and 11 seconds ahead of Roglic after an attack by Roglic and Vingegaard further down the mountain.
Geraint Thomas of Great Britain tried to keep up with Evenepoel, but he finished 53 seconds behind him, putting the Ineos Grenadiers rider in 23rd place, more than two minutes behind the leaders.
Stage six results
1. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) 4hrs 27mins 29secs
2. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) +26secs
3. Romain Bardet (Fra/DSM-Firmenich) +31secs
4. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +46secs
5. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +46secs
6. Wout Poels (Ned/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 3secs
7. Einer Rubio (Col/Movistar) +1min 05secs
8. Cristian Rodriguez (Spa/Arkea-Samsic) +1min 12secs
9. Steff Cras (Bel/TotalEnergies) +1min 12secs
10. Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Ecu/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +1min 26secs
General classification after stage six
1. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Groupama-FDJ) 21hrs 40mins 35secs
2. Sepp Kuss (USA/Jumbo-Visma) +8secs
3. Marc Soler (Spa/UAE Team Emirates) +51secs
4. Wout Poels (Ned/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 41secs
5. Steff Cras (Bel/TotalEnergies) +1min 48secs
6. Mikel Landa (Spa/Bahrain Victorious) +1min 58secs
7. Jefferson Alveiro Cepeda (Ecu/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +2mins 06secs
8. David de la Cruz (Spa/Astana-Qazaqstan) +2mins 23secs
9. Remco Evenepoel (Bel/Soudal-Quick-Step) +2mins 47secs
10. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +2mins 50secs
