Sam Bennett wins two in a row on stage 3 at Vuelta a España

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Sam Bennett wins stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Mads Pedersen stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Mike Woods crashes on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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The field on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Overall race leader Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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The main field on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Ander Okamika leads the break stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Thomas De Gendt in the break on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Julius Van den Berg on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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The breakaway on stage 3 of the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett wins stage 3 ahead of Mads Pedersen and Dan McLay (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett wins stage 3 ahead of Mads Pedersen and Dan McLay (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett wins stage 3 ahead of Mads Pedersen and Dan McLay (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Jumbo-Visma during stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Jumbo-Visma followed by Ineos Grenadiers stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Dario Cataldo leads the field on stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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The breakaway on stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Bahrain leads the field on stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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The teams line out in the closing kilometres of stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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The peloton in the closing kilometres at stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Getty Images)

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The peloton on stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett wins his second consecutive stage at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett celebrates as the winner of stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Chris Froome on stage 3 at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Affini takes over the red leader’s jersey for Jumbo-Visma in Breda (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) takes the overall race lead at the Vuelta a Espana (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma) takes the overall race lead at the Vuelta a Espana as the race heads into the first rest day (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Julius Van den Berg in the mountains jersey (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Ethan Hayter in the young rider jersey (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Edoardo Affini celebrates the overall race lead as crowds join the celebration in Breda (Image credit: Sprint Cycling Agency)

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Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed his second straight victory of the Vuelta a España, once again proving fastest on the bunch sprint finish on stage 3 in Breda.

The Irishman, who’d had a rough 18 months before coming to this Vuelta, was the fastest finisher but also had the strongest lead-out, with Danny van Poppel once again playing a starring role.

As was the case on stage 2, Bennett got the better of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), who ran him a little closer this time, while Dan McLay (Arkea-Samsic) claimed the final podium spot on Bennett’s other shoulder.

Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) placed fourth in Bennett’s wake as Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) faded from an early sprint, while Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Deceuninck) was disengaged from his lead-out man and then halted his sprint on another day to forget.

Jumbo-Visma continued to play pass the parcel with the red jersey, transferring the overall lead of the race from Mike Teunissen to Edoardo Affini. Most of the squad remain tied on time at the top of the standings, so the jersey is awarded based on stage placings and Teunissen, despite placing fourth on stage 2, decided not to sprint, instead hitting the wind before slipping down to 150th place by the line, with Affini placing 20th to take the jersey.

There were no changes to the general classification, although a contender was lost in Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), who crashed out early and appeared to suffer a head impact. There was also a scare for Ineos as Richard Carapaz suffered a small crash inside the final 20km and had to chase back on with back-up leaders Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghegan Hart.

The pan-flat stage – the only crumple being a cat-4 ‘climb’ rising to 25 metres above sea level – carried a threat of crosswinds but nothing substantial materialised and it was a straight forward sprint day.

Alpecin, who found support in controlling the peloton from Bora and Trek after their complaints on Saturday, were prominent on the run-in but then the UAE and Bora trains hit the front and became tangled in the final kilometre.

Bora’s Ryan Mullen found himself at the front but he’d lost his teammates, so he pulled off, forcing UAE to lead out early. At that point, it looked like Bennett might be out of it, but suddenly Van Poppel catapulted him up the left-hand side of the road. As Ackermann faded and McLay hit the front, Bennett opened the taps and stormed through the middle, confirming that his season is well and truly back on track.

“For it to happen two times in a row is nice. It’s confidence-boosting for sure,” he said.

“The boys again… what can I say? Jonas [Koch] was riding all day – a big thank you for the commitment. Then the boys looking after me in the bunch all day. In the final, Jonas, even though he was riding all day, came back and gave a big turn. Then Ryan kept us up there, taking so much wind. Then Danny… it was a masterclass.”

It might have seemed hard to imagine a flatter stage than Saturday’s but stage 3 saw barely an incline as the 193km route took the riders through the flatlands of northern Holland, starting and finishing in Breda.

There was an unconventional roll-out as the red, green, white, and polka-dot jerseys all rode ahead and into Breda’s Grote Kerk, where they lit candles in honour of those who’d lost their lives to COVID-19. The whole peloton rode straight through the building before heading out for a long neutralised zone.

When the stage was eventually waved underway, a breakaway was formed with a minimum of fuss. It took a few kilometres, but Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) hit the front and almost gently prised a seven-man group clear.

Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) was out again to defend his polka-dot jersey, while Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) also fancied another day up the road, while the others were: Jan Bakelants (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Jose Herrada (Cofidis), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi).

They built a lead of three minutes but the gap was soon stabilised as three teams sent a rider each to the front of the peloton. After Alpecin’s complaints yesterday, they found assistance from Bora and Trek.

The first half of the stage passed by uneventfully, as they looped up into a long headwind section, but it was the end of the road for Woods, who tangled with his teammate Itamar Einhorn and was treated for a bloodied temple before abandoning the race.

As on stage 2, the flat exposed roads carried the threat of crosswinds but it wasn’t blowing strongly enough to do any damage. In the final 85km, the route turned south, with the wind coming from the right, and there was a marked increase in urgency in the peloton. The sprint team trio disappeared and squads got organised into blocks, although it was mainly a watching brief as all were instructed to stay safe, just in case anything did materialise.

After 20km or so of tension, the race turned east into a tailwind, just at the point where the day’s only climb reared up. The Rijzendeweg translated to ‘rising road’ but it was barely perceptible as the 400 metre stretch was essentially an excuse to hand out mountains classification points. De Gendt got there first, but Van den Berg finished second and did enough to earn himself another day in the polka-dots.

The next flashpoint came at the intermediate sprint with 23km to go, and De Gendt once again was first to the line. After that, there was nothing really to fight for, with the gap to the peloton down to just 20 seconds. They strung it out for as long as possible, with the final catch being made 11km from home.

Trek-Segafredo hit the front, and Alpecin then looked to dominate before deciding to slot in behind Jumbo. The GC teams moved aside once inside the safety net of the 3km to go banner, and from there Alpecin looked to reassert control, before getting swamped by UAE.

Mullen hit the front and it looked like Bora might have got it wrong as Bennett was well back and on the other side of the road, but Van Poppel fired him up to where he needed to be and the Irishman finished it off in style.

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