First Grand Tour stage win for Pavel Bittner. The 21-year-old pro from Team dsm-firmenich PostNL narrowly defeated Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) in a bunch sprint on stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana 2024 in Seville. Third place went to Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
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"I only won my first professional race a few weeks ago. And now to win a stage at my first Vuelta, I still can't believe it," said Bittner, who took his first professional victory on the first stage of the Tour of Burgos on 5 August.
After the fireworks of the classification riders at the first mountain finish on Pico Villuercas on Tuesday, stage 5 was largely uneventful. Two breakaway riders tried their luck but were caught early by the peloton, so that everything focussed on the sprint to the finish. Van Aert started it very early. Bittner had grabbed the Belgian's rear wheel and passed him in the final metres. While van Aert continues to lead the points classification with second place, Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) remains in the overall leader's red jersey, which the Slovenian had no trouble defending.
Vuelta a Espana 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 5
- Pavel Bittner (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) 4:25:28
- Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:00
- Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) +0:00
- Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) +0:00
- Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) +0:00
- Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
- Arne Marit (Intermarche-Wanty) +0:00
- Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
- Antonio Jesus Soto (Equipo Kern Pharma) +0:00
The overall standings of the Tour of Spain
- Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) 18:58:36
- Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) +0:08
- Enric Mas (Movistar) +0:32
- Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:38
- Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Dstny) +0:41
- Felix Gall (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:47
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:50
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:58
- Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:58
- Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) +1:00
How the 5th stage of the Vuelta a Espana 2024 went
In temperatures of around 36°C, the day's breakaway group formed in the first kilometre. Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi) made their escape. Alpecin-Deceuninck and Visma | Lease a Bike took care of the chase in the peloton and let the breakaway duo off the leash to a maximum of around 5:30 minutes.
Nothing happened in the race until 50 kilometres before the finish. Then the peloton became hectic as the wind blew from the side and the classification teams feared a wind edge. The two escapees were doomed by the increased pace in the peloton. They were caught 38 kilometres before the finish. However, there was no wind edge.
Groves wins intermediate sprint
At the intermediate sprint 24 kilometres before the finish, Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) came out on top ahead of Wout van Aert (Visma | Lease a Bike). The two fought a fierce sprint duel. It is possible that they lacked the decisive energy in the final sprint.
Ten kilometres before the finish, Owain Doull and Rui Costa (both EF Education EasyPost) crashed at the front of the peloton. The Portuguese rider Costa then had to abandon the Vuelta a Espana 2024. After Dylan van Baarle (Visma | Lease a Bike), it was the second rider to have to leave the race early.
Bittner wins in the sprint against van Aert
Team Alpecin-Deceuninck went into the final kilometre in first position. However, it was van Aert and not Groves who went into the wind first. The Belgian's early attack had its price. Pavel Bittner (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) grabbed his rear wheel and passed him in the final metres.
