Young Czech Pavel Bittner created a surprise on Wednesday by winning the sprint in Seville during the 5e stage of the Tour of Spain cycling race ahead of the two specialists Kaden Groves and Wout Van Aert.
The 21-year-old rider, whose first victory this is on the World Tour circuit, got involved in the sprinters’ duel at the start of the Vuelta and ended up beating the Belgian on the line by throwing his bike.
“It’s incredible! A few weeks ago I won my first professional victory, now, winning a first stage on my first Grand Tour I can’t believe it,” Bittner, a double stage winner earlier this month on the Tour of Burgos, told Eurosport.
“Beating Wout (considered one of the best sprinters in the peloton, editor’s note) is just crazy! I told my teammates that today we could do it, that I believed in my chances, and that if the opportunity presented itself I would do my sprint, and it happened,” he rejoiced.
At the end of this 177 km flat stage in the heat of Andalusia without any climbs listed, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic retains the red jersey of leader of the general classification, and Van Aert the green jersey of the points classification.
The three-time winner of the event, who won the first mountain stage on Tuesday, has an 8-second lead over the Portuguese Joao Almeida, his runner-up, and 32 seconds over the Spaniard Enric Mas, third.
Belgian Lennert Van Eetvelt is in fifth place, ahead of the white jersey wearer Antonio Tiberi.
After this flat stage designed for a mass sprint, the road will climb again on a 185.5 km route on Thursday between Jerez de la Frontera and Yunquera, with four climbs on the programme including one in the first category, and a second summit finish at the Alto de las Abejas (3e category, 8.9 km at 3.9%).