"The team placed me really well going over the top of the last drag and onto the descent to the finish. From there I went on intuition a little bit and finally managed to win which feels amazing after so many second places," Bittner continues, referencing the final fight for the line. "I’m really happy, and also to pay back the guys for their work and it’s a really good start to the race for us.”
“Coming into this race we wanted to be super sharp on the details because we knew the impact it has on the result. Our aim was to sprint with Pavel and keep
Max Poole safe throughout the stage," adds Team DSM-Firmenich PostNL coach Callum Ferguson. "We also had an eye on those bonus seconds and go for them if we could without wasting too much energy, which Max and the guys did well. Then the focus was on being together and feeling that moment to go in the final. The guys really nailed it today, you could see we were together and safe from far out, then in the final they positioned Pavel who just went for it. Pavel is over the moon with it and I think we can be too.”