Staff Reporter.
Sam Bennett of Bora Hansgrohe clinched his second stage victory in a row by winning stage three of the Vuelta a Espana on Sunday, a 193km trek that started and finished in Breda.
Bennett, who also won the second stage in Utrecht, was the fastest in the bunch sprint finish in the last stage on Dutch soil.
The Irishman finished ahead of Trek-Segafredo’s Mads Pedersen, as was the case in the second stage, and Dan McLay of Arkea-Samsic completed the podium.
Bennett, who became the second Irish rider to win at least 10 stages in Grand Tours after Sean Kelly, was guided to the line by his teammate Danny van Poppel.
“It was quite hard because a lot of people were fighting for our wheel,” said Bennett, who leads the green jersey race on 117 points to Pedersen’s 80.
“It was just the natural flow that people went up the side and squeezed me off, so there were a few tough moments to hold Danny’s wheel. It was a hard fight.”
Sunday’s stage was largely uneventful except for a crash for general classification favourite Richard Carapaz with around 18km to go. The Olympic road race champion was brought back to the peloton by his teammates.
Edoardo Affini will take over the red leader’s jersey, called “La Roja”, for stage four, becoming the third Jumbo-Visma rider to do so after Robert Gesink and Mike Teunissen.
The peloton moves to Spain on Monday. The following six stages before the next rest day will be raced in medium or high mountains of northern Spain, in the Basque Country and Asturias.
STAGE WINNERS
1. Sam Bennett (IRL) BORA – hansgrohe 4:05:53
2. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Trek – Segafredo “
3. Daniel McLay (GBR) Team Arkéa – Samsic “
4. Bryan Coquard (FRA) Cofidis “
5. Fabian Lienhard (SUI) Groupama – FDJ “
6. Tim Merlier (BEL) Alpecin – Deceuninck “
7. Kaden Groves (AUS) Team BikeExchange – Jayco “
8. Cédric Beullens (BEL) Lotto – Soudal “
9. Pascal Ackermann (GER) UAE Team Emirates “
10. Danny van Poppel (NED) BORA – hansgrohe “
11. Lionel Taminiaux (BEL) Alpecin – Deceuninck “
12. Jake Stewart (GBR) Groupama – FDJ “
13. Ethan Hayter (GBR) INEOS Grenadiers “
14. Itamar Einhorn (ISR) Israel – Premier Tech “
15. Gerben Thijssen (BEL) Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux “
16. John Degenkolb (GER) Team DSM “
17. Carlos Canal (ESP) Euskaltel – Euskadi “
18. Harry Sweeny (AUS) Lotto – Soudal “
19. Alex Kirsch (LUX) Trek – Segafredo “
20. Edoardo Affini (ITA) Jumbo – Visma “
OVERALL LEADERS
1. Edoardo Affini (ITA) Jumbo – Visma 8:20:07
2. Sam Oomen (NED) Jumbo – Visma “
3. Primož Roglic (SLO) Jumbo – Visma “
4. Sepp Kuss (USA) Jumbo – Visma “
5. Mike Teunissen (NED) Jumbo – Visma “
6. Robert Gesink (NED) Jumbo – Visma “
7. Ethan Hayter (GBR) INEOS Grenadiers +13
8. Richard Carapaz (ECU) INEOS Grenadiers “
9. Carlos Rodríguez (ESP) INEOS Grenadiers “
10. Pavel Sivakov (FRA) INEOS Grenadiers “
11. Lucas Plapp (AUS) INEOS Grenadiers “
12. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR) INEOS Grenadiers “
13. Dylan van Baarle (NED) INEOS Grenadiers “
14. Remco Evenepoel (BEL) Quick-Step – Alpha Vinyl Team +14
15. Ilan Van Wilder (BEL) Quick-Step – Alpha Vinyl Team “
16. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Quick-Step – Alpha Vinyl Team “
17. Fausto Masnada (ITA) Quick-Step – Alpha Vinyl Team “
18. Mads Pedersen (DEN) Trek – Segafredo +27
19. Kaden Groves (AUS) Team BikeExchange – Jayco +31
20. Simon Yates (GBR) Team BikeExchange – Jayco.”