Queensland sprinter Kaden Groves has come his closest yet to winning a stage at the Tour de France but ran out of steam as he had to settle for third place on stage eight in Laval.
The Australian speedster has taken up the No.1 duties for Alpecin-Deceuninck after Jasper Philipsen's crash on stage three ended his race, but he didn't have enough power to cope with two of the peloton's powerhouses, stage winner Jonathan Milan and runner-up Wout van Aert on Saturday.
Groves, seeking his 10th Grand Tour victory after seven at the Vuelta a Espana and two at this year's Giro d'Italia, looked to have really lost his chance after he and Milan had brushed shoulders at a key roundabout just before the race denouement over the final uphill kilometre.
The man from Gympie lost a couple of positions and then had to battle to get back into the frame, yet though he fought to get on the wheel of his superstar teammate Mathieu van der Poel and looked in a good position for the final attack near the barriers, he was out of gas as van Aert and Milan swept by.
Groves' effort still matched the best result by an Australian in the 2025 race, following up Michael Storer's third place in Vire Normandie on Thursday.
Italian Milan, one of the dominant sprint forces in the peloton, felt emotional about his first ever victory on the Tour after holding off van Aert by half a bike's length.
He won in the green jersey that he was wearing on behalf of overall leader Tadej Pogacar, but the victory means he will now wear it on Sunday by rights as he moved to the top of the points classification.
"I don't still understand what we did," said Milan, who was the first Italian stage winner since Vincenzo Nibali in 2019.
"To come with some expectations, some dreams, but then to bring them home is two different things, but I was confident with the team.
"It was a tough final, I have to say it was a bit stressful and I was not expecting it to drag up so much in the last kilometre. I had to wait as long as I could, but I like this kind of finale and I'm really happy for the world that we did. We really deserved it."
There was no change in the overall standings, with double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel still the closest challenger to race leader Pogacar, 54 seconds adrift. Frenchman Kevin Vauquelin is third at 1:11 with two-time champion Jonas Vingegaard 1:17 behind in fourth.
The leading Australian in the GC remains Jayco AlUla's Ben O'Connor in 20th place, 8:25 down on Pogacar.
Groves will get another crack at a stage win on Sunday over a 158km flat stage from Chinon to Chateauroux, which has dubbed itself 'Cavendish City' this week in honour of the Tour's record stage winner Mark Cavendish, who took three of his 35 victories there.
