Bennett repeated the victory in the Netherlands and Affini, the third leader of Jumbo-Visma

The Spain Cycling Tour He closed this Sunday his trip to the Dutch lands. It comes with a flat third stage of 193.2 kilometers upon departure and arrival Breda. With the number of spectators on the roads, as seen during the three days of competition, Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) won the sprint victory for the second day in a row, this time in a smooth finish for the cyclists, in a smooth stage for the favourites. The Italian Edward Affini (Jumbo-Visma) is the new leader.

Winner the previous day in Utrecht, the Irish left with strong emotions from the first block of the competition. In a very long sprint, he retained the strength to break crazy petersen (Trek-Segafredo) already Daniel McLay (Archaean-Samsic). In this way, Bennett added his fifth partial victory in the Spanish roundafter two were added in 2019, one was achieved in 2020 and two were added in 2022.

It is on a day of a profile without even altitude, completely at sea level and with a very low level of the fourth category sixty kilometers from the end. In this way, the favorites achieved their goal of finishing their march through the Netherlands without a problem before traveling to Vitoria to face rest day this monday and to give continuity to the race in the national territory.

There were several attacks in the early stage, although the men who made the escape were seven: Jose Herrada (Cophidis), Julius van denBerg (EF Education-EasyPost), Jan Bakelants (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materials), Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH), Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) and Mikel Ituria (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The peloton, controlled by the ‘sprinters’ teams, left an advantage of about three minutes for breakaways.

The goal is to avoid unnecessary risks, but no one in the Vuelta a España is exempt from them. Around fifty kilometers of the stage, Michael Woods and Itamar Einhorn, the two Israel-Premier Tech runners, dropped. A few minutes later it was confirmed Woods had to withdraw from the racewhich is a significant drop in the Israeli team.

Without any surprises in the following kilometers, the cyclists prepared to face the only mountainous difficulty of the day, the ascent of the fourth level category of Rijzendewegwhich is located sixty kilometers from the finish line. By gendt He passed first, Van den Berg second and total points for his private account allowed him to keep his mountain leader’s jersey.

Controlled advantage and fall without consequences for Carapaz

The peloton quickened the march after that short climb and dropped the minute difference with respect to the escapees. About forty kilometers from the end, the rent is forty seconds for the escape, a difference in which the peloton dedicates itself to play in the following kilometers. It didn’t matter to the many colored snakes that the leading men were still running on Sint Willebrord intermediate sprinttwenty three kilometers from the end. By gendt he took the twenty points at stake and the three bonus seconds at this point.

in the back, Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) suffered fear in the form of falling without consequences. So, he was quickly joined by his fellow squad members, who began spotting the escapees. So, the breakaway ended fourteen kilometers from the finish line and the teams of sprinters were fighting to position themselves in a good position at the front while the groups of men called to contest the general classification tried also keep their leaders away from any problems that may arise. at the back of the pack.

Trek-Segafredo and Bora-hansgrohe They managed to position themselves well in the big group to face the final kilometers with guarantees. In fact, both teams had the upper hand in the sprint for the finish line. In it, after starting at a distance, Bennett He squeezed himself hard and held back his strength to break Pedersen and McLay.

while the Italian Edward Affini He took the lead because of the positions added in the first three stages. It is, in fact, the third red jersey for Jumbo-Visma, all three with three different cyclists since the Dutch victory in the initial team time trial. So, Affini will start from Vitoria next Tuesday, after a day of rest and transfer to Spain, in a stage with a third-class port a few kilometers from the finish line and with a short end of the climb that can cause variations in general.

Classifications

Stage 3, Breda-Breda, 193.5km
1. Sam Bennett (Ireland/Bora-hansgrohe) 4h 05’53” (10″ bonus)
2. Mads Pedersen (Denmark/Trek-Segafredo) id. (6″ bonus)
3. Daniel McLay (Great Britain/Arkéa-Samsic) id.
4. Bryan Coquard (France/Cofidis) id.
5. Fabian Lienhard (Switzerland/Groupama-FDJ) id.
6. Tim Merlier (Belgium/Alpecin-Deceuninck) id.
7. Kaden Groves (Australia/BikeExchange-Jayco) id.
8. Cédruc Beullens (Belgium/Lotto Soudal) id.
9. Pascal Ackermann (Germany (UAE Emirates) id.
10. Danny Van Poppel (Netherlands/Bora-hansgrohe) id.

General
1. Edoardo Affini (Italy/Jumbo-Visma) 8h 20’07”
2. Sam Oomen (Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) id.
3. Primoz Roglic (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) id.
4. Sepp Kuss (United States/Jumbo-Visma) id.
5. Mike Teunissen (Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) id.
6. Robert Gesink (Netherlands/Jumbo-Visma) id.
7. Ethan Hayter (Great Britain/Ineos Grenadiers) at 13″
8. Richard Carapaz (Ecuador/Ineos Grenadiers) id.
9. Carlos Rodríguez (Spain / Ineos Grenadiers) id.
10. Pavel Sivakov (France/Ineos Grenadiers) id.