La Vuelta a Espana 2024 Stage 5 as it happened: Pavel Bittner causes an upset with maiden win ahead of Wout van Aert

A fortnight ago, Pavel Bittner hadn’t won a pro race. But he’s built on two stage wins at the Vuelta a Burgos with this, the best result of his career.

“It’s unbelievable. Only a few days ago I got my first pro win, so to get my first win at my first Vuelta, I still can’t believe it. To beat Wout van Aert, one of the best long sprinters in the world, is just crazy. I told the guys today that we could do it and I really believed in it. When the opportunity came, I really went for it full gas.”

If you watch the replay, it looks like the green jersey lunged twice at the finish - once too early, and then a second time for the finish line. Missing out on that extra pedal stroke could have cost him a second win... Here's how close it was!

A first WorldTour stage win for the Czech man of the moment...

1. Pavel Bittner (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL)
2. Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike)
3. Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck)
4. Bryan Coquard (Cofidis)
5. Stefan Kung (Groupama-FDJ)
6. Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech)
7. Jhonatan Narvaez (Ineos Grenadiers)
8. Arne Marit (Intermarche-Wanty)
9. Gianmarco Garofoli (Astana-Qazaqstan)
10. Antonio Soto (Equipo Pharma Kern)

The Belgian took second place ahead of Kaden Groves, who left it too late. He will extend his lead in the green jersey standings despite missing out to Bittner.

The Czech sprinter comes of age with victory in Stage 5 of the Vuelta a Espana ahead of Belgium’s Wout van Aert. A massive breakthrough result for the 21-year-old.

Was it Pavel Bittner of DSM or Wout van Aert, the green jersey? It’s impossible to tell from the angle… but Kaden Groves was out of it.

Alpecin have this under control but Visma and Wanty are coming to the fore…

But the 4km rule will mean the Spaniard doesn’t lose any time. And now Alpecin-Deceuninck take it up on the front…

They don’t have a sprinter but they’re still going big guns on the front with DSM and Visma tucked in behind. Alpecin have not brought Groves up yet but that will come soon enough.

The habitual jostle for positions ahead of the 4km mark and a bunch finish continues apace. It’s fast and furious and spread out across a wide city-centre road.

The Portuguese champion didn’t appear to go down too hard, but he’s still not back on his bike. It’s an apparent shoulder or collarbone injury – and that could be the end of his race. And, indeed, it is. As I type, confirmation comes up on the screen. That’s a blow for the veteran former world champion and his EF team.

A bump in the road sees Owain Doull hit the deck at speed as the peloton rounds a corner. His Portuguese team-mate Rui Costa can’t avoid ploughing into his sprawling body and crashing himself. A nasty end to the stage for the EF Education-Easy Post duo, who will now soft-pedal their way to the finish.

It’s the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team of the red jersey Primoz Roglic who have come to the front as the race enters Seville, as well as the EF Education-EastPost outfit of Richard Carapaz and a load of Team dsm-firmenich PostNL riders. The teams of the sprinters will come to the fore soon enough, but for now it’s eased up a little. The calm before the storm.

Groves and Van Aert are head and shoulders above the other sprinters in this field; whichever one beats the other should be in the green jersey after topping the podium in Seville. But who knows. Perhaps Bryan Coquard has something up his sleeve.

The jury has awarded Kaden Groves with the intermediate sprint ahead of Van Aert. Meanwhile, it's Ibon Ruiz who takes the combativity award over his fellow escapee Txomin Juaristi.

For the second day running it’s going to take a photo finish to decide who took the points at the intermediate sprint. It’s the green jersey of Wout van Aert who launches first but the Australian Kaden Groves accelerated out of his wheel and probably pipped the Belgian for the points. If that’s the case, then Groves will have cut Van Aert’s green jersey lead to just three points ahead of the finale in Seville. A nice amuse bouche for the tapas spread awaiting us in about 25 minutes’ time.

The bearded Belgian veteran, riding his last Vuelta, edges a little clear of the pack. He's not committed to an attack, but it's a gentle reminder of his presence. Or he's just picking up some water. Ah yes, it's the latter. He takes on a musette of water bottles to distribute to his team-mates...

On the topic of De Gendt, I enjoyed his dry input after team-mate Lennert Van Eetvelt came close to a maiden Grand Tour stage win yesterday.

After the best part of 140km out ahead, Ruiz and Juaristi shake hands and call it a day, the Euskaltel rider peeling off to the right of the road and his Equipo Pharma Kern counterpart going to the left as they allow the peloton to power on past. It’s unclear how the race jury will decide who wins the combativity award today. It may well depend on who put in the first dig once the flag went down.

Our two leaders Ibon Ruiz and Txomin Juaristi have been out since the gun but their carrots are pretty much cooked now as the peloton rampages towards the intermediate sprint. That flashpoint doesn't come for another 15km and it's still quite early for a catch. But it seems like, after a day of sweltering stupor, there's a growing desire within the peloton to get to the finish now.