Pavel Bittner stuns Van Aert and Groves to win stage 5 of the 2024 Vuelta a Espana

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.

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.