MADRID: American Sepp Kuss rolled into Madrid as winner of the Vuelta a Espana as the threeweek race concluded with a thrilling bunch sprint won by Australian Kaden Groves on Sunday.

Kuss began the race very much in the shadow of his more illustrious JumboVisma team-mates Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic but ended it with the red jersey still on his shoulders, having taken ownership of it on the eighth of the race`s 21 stages.

The 29-year-old ended 17 seconds ahead of Denmark`s Tour de France winner Vingegaard with Slovenia`s Giro d`Italia winner Roglic one minute and eight seconds behind in third place.

It is the first time that a single team has won all three Grand Tours in a season, and Kuss is the first American rider to win one of the three since Chris Horner`s 2013 Vuelta triumph.

Kuss`s overall victory was effectively wrapped up on Saturday when he linked arms on the finish line with Roglic and Vingegaard who had become his elite domestiques.

While Kuss celebrated the overall victory, Groves secured the green jersey for the points category the first Australian to achieve that in the Vuelta.

Evenepoel ended with the consolation of the climber`s jersey after a brilliant tour.-Reuters