Sam Bennett turned domestique today on the final stage of Vuelta a Burgos as he joined his Deceuninck-QuickStep team's efforts to protect the overall lead of Remco Evenepoel.
After winning yesterday's stage 4 in real style, Bennett was in the green jersey today and he was visible in the early stages of the race pulling on the front to aid his team.
With today's stage featuring a summit finish, it was never going to be one for the Irishman to excel on and so he focused on doing what he could for the team before the climb began.
In the end Evenepoel was put under serious pressure on the final climb to the finish line at Lagunas de Neila, with Mikel Landa (Bahrain McLaren) surging forward with a number of attacks; Landa having start the day in 3rd place overall at just 32 seconds.
Advertisement
However, while Evenepoel had to dig very deep on the tough final climb, he met the challenge of his GC rivals; finishing 3rd on the stage and wrapping up the overall victory.
Related News
The final stage fell to Ivan Sosa, the Team Ineos rider who won Vuelta a Burgos last year and in 2018 and has now taken the final stage of the race three years in a row.
Sosa put in the decisive attack of the final climb deep inside the final kilometre and pulled clear to win the stage by nine seconds from Landa, with Evenepoel just two further seconds back.
Eddie Dunbar, who was on team duties today, lost some time on the final climb; coming home in 20th place and 1:41 down on his stage-winning team mate.
However, Dunbar looked very strong at times over the past five days and having now gotten a stage race into his legs after the long break from competition he can look forward with confidence.
Topics
