Vuelta a España: Pavel Bittner swipes stage 5 victory ahead of Van Aert and Groves

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Pavel Bittner (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) won stage 5 of the Vuelta a España after he edged out Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) in a tight bunch finish in Seville.

Van Aert surely thought he had done enough to win the stage when he outfoxed Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) by launching his sprint from distance on the interminable finishing straight, but he was surprised in the closing metres by Bittner, who managed to get back on terms and then beat the Belgian in the final dive to the line on the banks of the Guadalquivir River.

Indeed, Van Aert appeared to throw his bike a touch too early, whereas Bittner’s sprint was perfectly executed. The Czech had to wait a moment for confirmation from the photo finish, but the image showed that he was a clear winner of his first Grand Tour stage.

“It’s unbelievable. I mean, only a few days ago I got my first pro win so to get the win at my first Vuelta, I still don’t believe it,” said Bittner, who had caught the eye with a brace of stage victories at the Vuelta a Burgos.

“With DSM, we did a lot of work on this, the whole team was very good and then to beat Wout in a long sprint…. He’s one of the best long sprinters in the world, it’s crazy.”

On Wednesday’s evidence, Bittner is fairly adept at long sprints himself, even if the second-year professional is reluctant to pigeonhole himself purely as a fast finisher.

“I don’t see myself as a sprinter, I see myself more as a Classics rider, so we’ll see,” said Bittner. “I told the guys today we could really do it, I really believed in myself. And when the opportunity came, I just went full gas to the line.”

Groves and Van Aert had split the previous two bunch sprints at this Vuelta, and their duel was still perhaps the defining feature of this thunderous finale. Alpecin-Deceuninck led out the sprint from 1.5km to go, while Van Aert was content to park himself on Groves’ wheel.

Van Aert’s teammate Edoardo Affini moved up on Groves’ righthand side in the final 300m, but that seemed to be almost a decoy move from Visma-Lease a Bike. When Groves glanced over his right shoulder, that was Van Aert’s cue to open his sprint. By the time Groves could react, the Belgian was out of reach.

Unfortunately for Van Aert, however, Bittner was tracking him and the Czech produced a powerful finish to claim the spoils. Van Aert had the consolation of extending his lead in the points classification, while Groves had to settle for third on the stage ahead of Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).

“I did what I had in my head, to sprint from the wheel of Kaden, which was quite early,” Van Aert said. “I think I did my throw a bit early, I think I was confused by shadows. In the heat of the moment easy to make a mistake. I think that was the difference. It was quite an expensive mistake.”

On another day of searing heat, Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) finished safely in the main peloton to retain the red jersey of race leader. The Slovenian remains eight seconds clear of João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and 32 seconds ahead of Enric Mas (Movistar) in the overall standings.

How it unfolded

The soaring temperatures have been one of the primary talking points on this Vuelta, and the conditions have had a dampening effect on the racing. Wednesday’s stage, which brought the race south into Andalusia, again saw the mercury pass 36°C, and there was an understandably subdued feel to the early exchanges here.

Early escapees Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) escaped with little resistance from the peloton, which was content to allow them amass a lead of more than three minutes before they were gradually reeled back in.

“At one point, I don’t know what’s easier to go slow and be exposed to the heat or to faster and have a bit more of a breeze,” Roglič said afterwards.

The pace eventually ratcheted upwards as the race drew closer to Seville, aided by the vague threat of echelons in the final hour. Juaristi and Ruiz were caught with a shade under 40km to go, while Groves beat Van Aert to the intermediate sprint with 25km remaining. “It seems like we are the only ones competing for the intermediate sprints,” Van Aert said.

The wide roads on the run-in didn’t make the finale any less fraught, and Rui Costa was forced to abandon the Vuelta after he came down in a crash with his EF Education-EasyPost teammate Owain Doull.

Roglič and his Red Bull guard were prominent at the head of the peloton until they had reached the sanctuary of the 3km to go banner. From there, the sprinters’ teams took up the reins, and Alpecin-Deceuninck set out their intentions when they hit the front with 1.5km remaining.

Bittner, however, was well placed throughout the finale, and the youngster delivered a fine sprint to claim the spoils in the shadow of the Maestranza bullring.

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