Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) has said while he was waiting for a late attack to come in the final of yesterday's stage 3 in Argentina, he expected it from world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and not Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo).
Bennett, whose team said it was very happy with how is final sprint looked, knew the finish on the Autodrómo de Villicum motor racing circuit as he had ridden it in 2019. However, when the final took an unexpected twist - as Simmons attacked late to win - Bennett was wrongfooted and playing catch-up.
"We knew there would be an attack at the end, but we expected it to be from Remco Evenepoel," Bennett confirmed. "I did this finish in 2019, when Stybar attacked near the finish line. It was a day for stage hunters."
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He was targeting another victory on the remaining four stages of Vuelta a San Juan Internacional, to add to his stage 1 triumph. He was hoping "there will be no last-minute attacks" like Simmons yesterday.
While today's stage 4 has some climbs, it may end in a bunch sprint. However, Friday's stage 5, with the finish climb of Alto del Colorado, will see the climbers battle it out and take Bennett's race leader's jersey from him, if he retains it that far.
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"I did the ascent in 2019 and it will be a very hard stage," said Bennett. "It's not an ascent for a pure climber, and also the wind will play an important role."
After Simmons attacked late to win yesterday, and Max Richeze (Argentina) went after him to take 2nd, Bennett shot out of the bunch and proved best of the sprinters for 3rd. It was a performance his sports director, Bernie Eisel, was very happy with despite missing the victory.
"The goal was to fight for the stage win with Sam Bennett and to get Sergio Higuita through the day without losing any time. The guys worked a lot again, especially neo-pro Florian Lipowitz who put in an impressive performance for the third day in a row," said Eisel.
"In the end it was very hectic and Simmons’ attack was difficult to parry. But Sam’s sprint was really strong and we are happy with another podium.”
Bennett now leads the race by six seconds from Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) with Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) in 3rd at eight seconds.
