Strong teamwork as Pavel Bittner sprints to 2nd in shortened Catalunya stage

Due to strong wind conditions, the sixth day of racing at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya was adapted and the parcours changed. Originally still set to be a day for the climbers and GC riders after Friday evening’s changes, further amendments on Saturday saw it swing more in the balance of the sprinters and puncheurs.

Team Picnic PostNL therefore set out with the plan to go all-in for the finale with Pavel Bittner, who had picked up a good third place the previous day. A long neutralised period eventually gave way to racing the final 30 kilometres; where immediately the team was switched on. Romain Combaud initially set tempo at the front of the peloton looking to control things but attacks soon flew. Frank van den Broek was sharp and quick to react on them, acting as a foil and to have the team represented.

It eventually came back together coming into the closing kilometres, where Simmonds launched his winning attack with just around one kilometre to go. Van den Broek pulled to try and close the gap before swinging off, and coming into the last couple of corners Bittner kicked to try and close it down. Unfortunately the finish line came just too soon as Simmons held on for the win with a very fast finishing Bittner taking a strong second place on the day.

Bittner said: “It was really cool that the team was on such a high level of motivation that we could go for a result today. In the end with all of the changes we raced only 31 minutes and it was really fully gas. Frank countered some moves and that was working well so I could save my legs in the bunch. Coming into the final I had a good position. Simmons went with around one kilometre to go. Looking back, maybe I should have trusted my legs more and went for it as I felt really good. In the end I launched after him, I don’t know at how far to go, and was really closing in on him but it was just not enough at the line. It’s slightly frustrating but I’m really happy with the shape and how it went. We’ll see how the final day goes tomorrow.”

Team Picnic PostNL coach Pim Ligthart added: “I have to give credits to the guys, they were always ready to race no matter what type of stage we got in the end. When we got the news before the start that it was heading more into a sprinter’s type race, we looked to the final together with Pavel, to make a plan to control the day and go for it with him in the finish. During the stage when we heard over the race radio that the neutralised part was going to end, the guys were really switched on. Frank did really well to police the attacks and stay in the wheels there to make sure we were represented. We focused on Pavel in the final and the finish came just about 10 metres too early for him and we came second today. We were really focused on racing today, and the guys did that. In the end we missed out on a win, which is a pity, but we can definitely say we were in the race once more here.”