2024 Vuelta a España Stage 5 Results & Recap
Stage 5 of the 2024 Vuelta a España is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
Bittner wins stage 5
The flattest stage of the entire Vuelta came down to an expected bunch sprint in which young Pavel Bittner outpowered Wout van Aert by a small margin. Primoz Roglic retains the red jersey ahead of João Almeida and Enric Mas.
"It’s unbelievable!" Pavel Bittner of DSM-Firmenich-PostNL said. "I mean, only a few weeks ago, I got my first pro wins [in the Vuelta a Burgos], so to win in my first Vuelta, I still don’t believe it. If we look at the whole year and the last few years, I think with DSM, we did a lot of development work with a lot of people, and today, in the final, everybody was working really well. And to beat Wout [van Aert] in a long sprint… He’s one of the best long sprinters in the world. It’s crazy! I told the guys: ‘Today, we can do it, I really believe in myself.’ When the opportunity opened, I just went full gas to the line, and somehow, it worked. I hope it’s just the start of Czech cycling coming back to the top."
Ibon Ruiz and Txomin Juaristi established the breakaway from the start. The two raced to a lead of six minutes before the peloton took control.
The break was reeled in with 38 kilometres left to race.
Kaden Groves misjudged the sprint, and it came down to a clash between 21-year-old Pavel Bittner and Wout van Aert. The Czech took the win, while Primoz Roglic stayed in the lead of the GC.
"I believe I had the victory in my own hands, and I threw my bike too early," van Aert said. "I was a bit confused with the shadows. I thought the line was there, and when I saw how close it was on the photo finish, it might have made a difference."
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