Picnic-PostNL set to lose another key rider as Bittner closes in on Pinarello-Q36.5 deal
All has not been well at Picnic-PostNL of late. The Dutch squad, which operates on one of the smallest budgets of the WorldTour, has gained a reputation for haemorrhaging talent in recent years, with big names – and UCI points scorers – including Marc Hirschi, Tiesj Benoot, Thymen Arensman, Sam Welsford, Tobias Lund Andresen and Oscar Onley all departing at the close of their contracts, if not before. And now Pavel Bittner looks likely to add his name to that list as he approaches an agreement with Pinarello-Q36.5.
Picnic-PostNL has made a mission of rider development, which in itself is a decent enough business plan if you can guide and influence their increase in value, to put it crudely. However, in a sport where budgets are growing almost exponentially, it's becoming harder and harder even to develop competitively, and Picnic-PostNL is struggling more and more to hold onto riders and staff. And at the end of 2025, the UCI delivered them an ultimatum in the form of a limited one-year WorldTour contract pending financial guarantees for the three-year period.
Bittner is a young Czech sprinter who won a stage of the Vuelta in 2024, and earned a handful of top finishes this spring including third at the Bredene Koksijde Classic, sixth at the Tour of Bruges, and second at Scheldeprijs. In short, he's a useful rider for a team struggling for results, and Picnic-PostNL would miss him.
