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Sam Bennett wins sprint to take Vuelta second stage / Photo: © ANP/AFP
Sam Bennett wins sprint to take Vuelta second stage
Irishman Sam Bennett of Bora won stage two of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, bursting ahead of a speeding pack in a frantic bunch sprint after a 175.1km run between the Dutch towns of 's-Hertogenbosch and Utrecht.
Dane Mads Pedersen was second by a bike length and Belgian champion Tim Merlier was third.
Mike Teunissen was fourth a day after his Jumbo-Visma team won the opening team time-trial. He took the overall leader's red jersey from teammate and Dutch compatriot Robert Gesink.
"This morning the guys surprised me a bit saying that, if it all went as planned and Primoz (Roglic) went safe into the last 3km we could see if I could be the one crossing the line first," Teunissen said.
"It was already pretty special. I want to thank the team and everyone involved."
Of the favourites to win the overall title Primoz Roglic of Jumbo is best placed with Ineos leader Richard Carapaz 13sec off the Slovenian's pace. Remco Evenepoel, a 22-year-old Belgian is at 14sec. the 2018 Vuelta champion Simon Yates is at 31sec and Giro champion Jai Hindley at 41sec.
Bennett finished in 3hrs 49min and 34sec and also took the green sprint jersey, level on 50 points with Pedersen, after taking a fourth stage win on the Vuelta.
Pedersen won the intermediate sprint to collect 20pts, but when the Dane looked close to victory at the line Bennett found a final kick to zip past him.
"I went a bit too late, but to be honest, I was more hoping to hold on at that point than I was about passing other people," said the self effacing winner.
"I knew I'd do it again. It was just a matter of getting the right legs. What I'm really happy about is continuing my pattern of winning at least one stage in every Grand Tour I've done since 2018," said Bennett.
Shortly after the 184 riders left 's-Hertogenbosch, six riders broke away from the pack.
Massive weekend crowds lined the streets as Merlier's Alpecin team led the pursuit of the escape.
Julius van den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost was first to the top of the 2.1km long climb at 2.4% incline to claim the polka dot jersey.
Inoes rider Ethan Hayter of Britain is the top placed under-25's rider.
Sunday's stage three is also flat for a 193.5km run from Breda and back, before the peloton transfers to the Spain on Monday.
All six stages before the next rest day will be contested in medium or high mountains as the race winds through the rugged terrain of the Basque Country and Asturias.
The race might only be settled on stage 20 with a series of climbs designed to produce a final showdown on the road towards Madrid.
A. Bogdanow--BTZ
