Sam Bennett causes massive upset on Paris-Nice stage three
Bora Hansgrohe's Sam Bennett upset all the big name sprinters with a massive victory on stage three of Paris-Nice .
The Irishman, 26, was neatly placed with 300 metres to go behind Alexander Kristoff (Katusha-Alpecin) and when he launched his effort no one could catch him, leaving Kristoff and John Degenkolb (Trek Segafredo) to pick up second and third respectively, two lengths behind him.
"I had a lot of confidence coming into this", said Bennett, "I knew with a bit of luck and the support of my team that something is possible, I didn't know if it would be a win though. In the the end I got really lucky, but the guys did a fantastic job."
Stage three, 190km through the wine region of Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saone, presented far better weather for the riders than the previous two stages, with the temperature at the beginning in Chablis a comparatively balmy eight degrees.
The breakaway of the day came from the trio of Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Ben King (Dimension Data) and Romain Combaud (Delko-Marseille Provence), none of whom posed any general classification threat and so opened a vast lead of eight minutes, although their advantage had been whittled down to two minutes 43 seconds with 50km to go.
South African champion Reinardt van Rensburg was forced to abandon at 30km after taking a nasty fall at the back of the peloton. He appeared to just touch the rear wheel of the rider in front of him which was enough to have him fall heavily on his right side.
Latour took maximum points on the largest categorised climb on Paris-Nice so far at 25km to go, the category two Cote de Charrecey, attacking and dumping his breakaway colleagues with 500 metres to go.
Following the climb, King dropped back and was joined by the attacking Nicholas Edet (Cofidis), who were only 35 seconds ahead of the peloton with Latour and Combaud a further 15 seconds up the road. Only a few kilometres later, King and Edet were caught.
Latour and Combaud's gallant effort was over when they were caught under the one kilometre to go banner, with the Quick-Step, Katusha-Alpecin and Lotto Fix ALL teams driving the peloton in anticipation of the sprint finish.
The way Quick-Step were holding at the front it looked nailed on to be a Marcel Kittel win, but Bennett was safely tucked in the slip stream of Kristoff, who, with 300 metres to go unleashed his own effort to take the stage win.
Arnaud Demare (FDJ) keeps the yellow jersey heading into tomorrow's time trial, while Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) stays in second only behind by six seconds, ahead of Kristoff who's 13 seconds back.
Tomorrow's stage four time trial is where the general classification will begin to take shape. 14km will be covered, with the final 3.3km up Mont Brouilly.
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| Credit: lequipe.fr |
"I had a lot of confidence coming into this", said Bennett, "I knew with a bit of luck and the support of my team that something is possible, I didn't know if it would be a win though. In the the end I got really lucky, but the guys did a fantastic job."
Stage three, 190km through the wine region of Chablis to Chalon-sur-Saone, presented far better weather for the riders than the previous two stages, with the temperature at the beginning in Chablis a comparatively balmy eight degrees.
The breakaway of the day came from the trio of Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Ben King (Dimension Data) and Romain Combaud (Delko-Marseille Provence), none of whom posed any general classification threat and so opened a vast lead of eight minutes, although their advantage had been whittled down to two minutes 43 seconds with 50km to go.
South African champion Reinardt van Rensburg was forced to abandon at 30km after taking a nasty fall at the back of the peloton. He appeared to just touch the rear wheel of the rider in front of him which was enough to have him fall heavily on his right side.
Latour took maximum points on the largest categorised climb on Paris-Nice so far at 25km to go, the category two Cote de Charrecey, attacking and dumping his breakaway colleagues with 500 metres to go.
Following the climb, King dropped back and was joined by the attacking Nicholas Edet (Cofidis), who were only 35 seconds ahead of the peloton with Latour and Combaud a further 15 seconds up the road. Only a few kilometres later, King and Edet were caught.
Latour and Combaud's gallant effort was over when they were caught under the one kilometre to go banner, with the Quick-Step, Katusha-Alpecin and Lotto Fix ALL teams driving the peloton in anticipation of the sprint finish.
The way Quick-Step were holding at the front it looked nailed on to be a Marcel Kittel win, but Bennett was safely tucked in the slip stream of Kristoff, who, with 300 metres to go unleashed his own effort to take the stage win.
Arnaud Demare (FDJ) keeps the yellow jersey heading into tomorrow's time trial, while Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) stays in second only behind by six seconds, ahead of Kristoff who's 13 seconds back.
Tomorrow's stage four time trial is where the general classification will begin to take shape. 14km will be covered, with the final 3.3km up Mont Brouilly.
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