Video: Sam Bennett fined, docked UCI points for Quintana, Hofstetter clashes

Sam Bennett had a nightmare finale on yesterday's stage 3 of Paris-Nice

Sam Bennett was fined and docked UCI points to compound what was already a nightmare outing on stage 3 of Paris-Nice yesterday.

The Deceuninck-QuickStep rider and Irish road race champion crashed in the final sprint and suffered a nasty gash to his hand that required stitching.

However, the race commissaires didn't exactly take pity on him as they reviewed his ride in the closing kilometres and fined him 800 Swiss Francs and docked him 40 UCI ranking points.

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That penalty was imposed after Bennett had used his shoulder against other riders to position himself.

As he attempted to hold his position in the peloton when the pace was on into a crosswind in the final 5km Bennett barged Nairo Quintna, bumping him with his shoulder.

And the just before the sprint began the Irish rider clashed with Hugo Hofstetter, the Israel Start-Up Nation rider who seconds later caused Bennett to crash and also took Caleb Ewan out of the sprint, though the Australian did not fall.