Part III of the Kaden Groves vs Wout van Aert sprint rivalry at the 2024 Vuelta a Espana has gone to Pavel Bittner! After an incredibly tight sprint, the Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL man just edged Van Aert at the line.
Already potentially one of the final chances for the sprinters, there was little desire to get into the breakaway. In the end, just the two riders, Ibon Ruiz - in the break for the third time in 5 days - and Txomin Juaristi.
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With Alpecin-Deceuninck and Team Visma | Lease a Bike operating a relaxed tempo on the front of the peloton in service of Kaden Groves and Wout van Aert respectively, the breakaway duo was able to build up a considerable advantage of around five minutes at one point.
As the finally began to level up the pace ahead of the intermediate sprint however, the breakaway's advantage was rapidly closed out. With just under 40km to go, the gap was completely closed and the break was swallowed up by a now rampant peloton. At the intermediate sprint, Groves edged out Van Aert, cutting the gap in the Green Jersey classification and earning a mental advantage ahead of the stage finale.
With a near pan flat finale following the intermediate sprint to the finish line, there was little doubt in the inevitable bunch sprint decider for the day. Owain Doull and Rui Costa slipped out just inside the final 10 km, with the Portuguese sadly being forced to abandon, but all the GC guys safely made it through the hallowed 4km to go marker.
In the fight for the stage win however, Wout van Aert went early and in a thrilling finale, the Green Jersey was just about beaten by Pavel Bittner, with Kaden Groves a little boxed in.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Somehow it has got into his mind that he is a GC rider. He is primarily a classics and stage rider who can perform on GC given his day. As a result he is wasting his time on TDF GC and once committed to GC you are too tired to do anything else.abstractengineer10-11-2026
- 🐐❤️Lozza09-11-2026
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- Tis beyond your comprehension fine sir so best not to look on with blind eyes to THE GOATS greatness.
Brucegel09-11-2026 - McNulty winning was beneficial in ensuring the rainbow jersey would not remain winless
Front24209-11-2026 - Eccelente! That's 7 riders in total in Red Bull who come from the devo team, 8 if you include Lipo
Rafionain-Glas09-11-2026 - again, nothing is going to be resolved. it is a discussion board. I simply said I didn't see how MS impeded LBs sprint. the UCI doesn't care about my thoughts, and I am really not that emotionally invested in it.mij09-11-2026
- provoke change, lol. this is a discussion board. nothing is going to change by what I say here. just commenting that it didn't look like MS impeded Brand. beyond that not trying to go too deep.mij09-11-2026
- as excellent as maga rednecks chloe dygert (and quinn simmons)?Ketterechts09-11-2026
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🥰 Small gestures today will make the cycling enthusiasts of tomorrow. @EqKernPharma 🙌 @RuizIbon 😍 Pequeños gestos hoy, grandes apasionados del ciclismo mañana. #LaVuelta24
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