Pavel Bittner already did it. He's already won the fifth stage of
Vuelta a Espana in his Grand Tour debut. But with food comes hunger and that's not different for the 22-year-old Czech who wanted to grasp the unexpected sprint opportunity on the fourteenth stage of the race. Despite a scary-looking 22km climb near the finish, the sprinter of
team dsm-firmenich PostNL narrowly managed to hang on to the main group and he was presented with a great opportunity to finish at the very least on the podium.
However things didn't work out as envisioned. When his teammates powered to the front of the group with 1500 meters to go, the Czech took too long to find the acceleration way too fast and wasted a lot of energy trying to hang on to his colleagues before eventually finding a spot a bit further in the bunch. As the riders entered the final stretch, Bittner seemd well-positioned in the wheel of Wout Van Aert, but when Groves and the Belgian opened their sprints, Bittner's legs stood still and he rolled to the line in 38th place.