Vuelta a España debutant Pavel Bittner sprints to stage five win in Seville

The Czech rider Pavel Bittner beat Wout van Aert in a photo finish at the end of stage five of the Vuelta a España on Wednesday.
Van Aert looked poised to claim his second stage of this year’s race in a fast finish in Seville but the 21-year-old Bittner (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL) edged out the Belgian on the line with a well-timed bike throw for his first career win at a Grand Tour.
Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) retained the points green jersey although he will rue the missed opportunity. Australia’s Kaden Groves finished in third place while Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora Hansgrohe) retained the overall lead after finishing safely in the peloton.
After Tuesday’s climbs, the 177km stage from Fuente del Maestre to Seville was flat in comparison but still lumpy in the first half and ridden in fierce heat.
It looked to be a day for a breakaway and one duly materialised although when it was swallowed up with 38km remaining it boiled down to a bunch sprint through the streets of Seville.
Van Aert launched his attack early and seemed to have done enough but misjudged his lunge to the line and Bittner took advantage to win by the narrowest of margins.
There was one casualty in the run-in as Portugal’s Rui Costa (EF Education-EasyPost) was involved in a crash and was forced to abandon the race.
The Vuelta returns to the mountains on Thursday with the race favourite Roglic holding an 8sec lead over the UAE Team Emirates rider João Almeida.