Sam Bennett has been beaten to another win on the Tour de France in a blanket finish at the end of stage 11, which was won by Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal).
Those two riders, who are good friends off the bike, crossed the line side-by-side with Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) and Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma).
Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) and Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) finished in the same group, some 4:25 down on the peloton. After his crash yesterday, Roche was visible in the finale today helping to move his sprinter, Cees Bol, into position; a great sign for him.
In the sprint for victory today Sagan barged Van Aert to nudge him into the road a little and create space for the three-time world champion to get through a space along the barriers.
Advertisement
While there was very little in it between the leading four on the line, Ewan just got the verdict from Sagan, with Bennett in 3rd and van Aert in 4th.
Indeed, the sprint was so close that the timing of the riders' lunge to the line effectively sorted the order of the top four.
However, no long after the finish it emerged Sagan's sprint had seen him relegated in the result, meaning he was moved to the back of the group in the result and Bennett bumped up to 2nd while van Aert went up to 3rd.
That relegation is significant in the green jersey classification as it means Sam Bennett gained 30 points today for his 2nd place and Sagan scored no points at the finish.
As the stage - some 167.5km from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers - ended in a bunch sprint there was no change in the overall; Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) still in yellow.
Bennett was 2nd over the line at the intermediate sprint point; winning the gallop from the bunch as lone leader Matthieu Ladagnous (Groupama-FDJ) was first across the line.
Related News
Sagan could only manage 4th in the intermediate sprint, meaning Bennett gained four points on his main rival for green.
Today's final sprint was a very unusual one and came at the end of what was an undulating run-in on narrow twisty roads.
Lukas Pöstlberger (Bora-hansgrohe), who won Rás Tailteann five years ago, let rip with a very impressive solo attack with about 6km to go and opened a gap.
As Sam Bennett's Deceuninck-Quickstep team was massing on the front at the time, readying the Irishman for the sprint, two of its riders reacted to the lone attack; Kasper Asgreen and Bob Jungels catching Pöstlberger.
That forced the Cofidis team of Elia Viviani to chase the three-man move and ensured the normal flow of a sprint finish, with lead-out trains in control, was upset.
However, the escapees were caught and after a chaotic finish, during which Sagan was very robust with van Aert, Ewan came through for his second stage win on the race a day after Bennett had beaten him for victory.
The relegation of Sagan means a big gap has now opened between him and Bennett in the points classification; Bennett retaining green on 243 points and Sagan in 2nd but with just 175 points.
More to come.
Topics
