Pavel Bittner and Team DSM sprint to strong 4th place at Tour de Suisse

After coming into the week in good shape and solid results in the opening time trial, Team DSM confirmed their good start to the Tour de Suisse on Monday as the team led out Pavel Bittner to his first top five finish at WorldTour level. After a hilly day, the stage finished in a bunch sprint in Nottwil, where the young rider from the Czech Republic powered to a nice fourth place.

It didn’t take long before a two-man breakaway went up the road in the hilly beginning on the stage. Things calmed down in the peloton, with our guys always riding well-organised in the front of the peloton to not be surprised or caught up behind the facts. This turned out to be important when a big crash caused some chaos in the last 40 kilometres and almost the whole team could escape. Shortly after this, the pace in the bunch picked up, as the race approached the final categorised climb. The team kept his position in front and saved some important energy for the run-in to the line. With three kilometres to go, they fought their way to the front and were brought into the final kilometre by Romain Bardet. Marius Mayrhofer then dropped Bittner in a perfect position, who showed his speed and finished fourth, his best result as a professional.

After the fast finish, Bittner stated: “The first stage after a good prologue. Our main goals were keeping Romain safe and well in GC, and sprinting with me as finisher. Other teams controlled the whole stage, only on the last climb the racing opened up a bit but then it was sure it was going to be a sprint. We came together in position and started moving up as a block as the last kilometres were narrow and fast. The guys did an amazing job for me in the final, really smooth natural navigation. Marius released me in the last 400 metres and then I surfed a bit and found the perfect line in the sprint. I did not have the speed to win today but it feels great to be in the mix. I’m very grateful for the opportunity; the best way to start off the week..” 

Team DSM coach Pim Ligthart added: “We saw some solid teamwork today and that already started early when the big crash happened. At this point, we were all in front and only Chris got caught up but could quickly make it back to the bunch. We then saw some great teamwork in supporting Pavel for the finish, who then did a nice sprint. He just missed out on a podium, but I think it’s a really good start to the week after the good TT yesterday. There are some positive vibes here in the team to keep going like this.”