Kaden Groves has recently finished his 2018 season in China with a bang as he finished third overall in the Tour of China II and took stage wins in the Tour of Quanzhou and the Tour of Fuzhou, that in addition to his victory in the closing stage of the Tour of Qianghai in early August account for an impressive tally of results in the Asian circuit. However, Groves was a late-comer to the sport as he tried cycling for the first time in 2014. “I started quite late in comparison to many. Four years ago I was trying to recover from a motorbike crash in which I injured my knee. I began with cycling as a part of the rehab process but never stop riding, so I gave up my Motorcross ambitions in order to focus on road cycling”. 

The 19-year old started his cycling journey with Australia’s Sunshine Coast Cycling Club, with whom he stays related as an active club member. In 2017, and after becoming National Junior Champion the year before, the fast sprinter moved up to the Continental ranks as he joined the Sydney-based St. Geroge Continental Cycling Team. The good results and the constant proving of his development caught the eye of Mitchelton-Bike Exchange (Mitchelton – Scott’s development team), and joined them halfway 2018 for the remainder of the season. 

Despite being still in his early days in the cycling community, Groves admits that the sport has already taught him some valuable lessons to carry on his travel bag. “In my first year at Continental level, I learned the importance to race as a team and thanks to racing a strong calendar and racing against professional riders I realized how hard they compete. However, my most valuable lessons have been to never give up in stage races. Opportunities are available right up until the last stage and it is really important to stay hungry and motivated for results all the way until the end”.