Sam Bennett has taken victory on stage 10 of the Tour de France into Saint-Martin-de-Ré on the island of île de Ré; his first on the race and the sixth Grand Tour stage win of his career.
He is the sixth Irishman to win a stage on the Tour and joins a list that includes Shay Elliott, Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche, Martin Earley and Dan Martin.
Bennett was well looked after by his Deceuninck-QuickStep team today as most of the final 20km was ridden in crosswinds; the Irish cyclist staying close to the front.
On a day when roundabouts and other road furniture caused crash after crash, with Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) crashing very hard, Bennett put in a fantastic ride.
He saved his legs at the intermediate sprint - content to take 3rd across that line - and later unleashed his famed gallop for a brilliant win after 168.5km of racing.
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Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) was 2nd after coming off Bennett's wheel, with Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) in 3rd.
The Irish cyclist's 3rd place at the intermediate sprint and his stage win also mean he moves back in the green jersey of points classification leader on what was a dream day for it.
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Bennett now has 196 points in that classification, with
Bennett 2nd on 175 points and Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept) on
129.
And with another flat stage tomorrow, some 167.5km from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers, Bennett could take another victory tomorrow and add to his points tally.
Lots more to come.
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