Sam Bennett had to settle for his fourth 2nd place of La Vuelta into Madrid yesterday when he was forced to stall at the last moment.
The Irish sprinter has developed a welcome habit of taking final stages in major events, including last year's Giro and Tour of Turkey and this season's UAE Tour and Vuelta a San Juan.
Yesterday though the Irishman just failed to add to that success; narrowly missing out to Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep).
The Dutch champion was given a perfect lead-out by his team, with Bennett latching on to the back of their train.
However, when the Max Richeze moved to his left to release Jakobsen, the Argentine lingered a little and Bennett was forced to stall when he found his way blocked.
Richeze eventually moved out of the way but Bennett had been forced to stall for a moment and he eventually ran out of road to overtake Jakobsen.
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However, full credit must go to the 23-year-old in taking his second stage win in his Grand Tour debut.
Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) banged his handlebars in frustration as he crossed the line at seeing a chance slip away from him.
He won stage 3 and stage 14 and on each of the four times he was runner-up on stages on La Vuelta 2019 he was beaten by a Deceuninck-QuickStep rider.
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Jakobsen beat him on stages 4 and 21, Philippe Gilbert on stage 17 and Rémi Cavagna on stage 19.
Yesterday in Madrid Primož Roglič wrapped up overall victory after a commanding performance by himself and his Jumbo-Visma team.
He became the first Slovenian to ever win a Grand Tour and it was also his team's first overall victory over three weeks.
Roglič claimed the final red jersey of Vuelta champion by 2:16 from Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).
Another Slovenia, 20-year-old Tadej Pogačar, was 3rd in the colours of UAE Team Emirates at 2:38, having taken three mountain stage victories.
Roglič also won the points classification; from Pogačar and Bennett.
The climbers' classification went to Geoffrey Bouchard (AG2R La Mondiale) while Pogačar won the young rider classification.
As well as Bennett giving Irish fans plenty to cheer for, Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) held the race lead for three stages in the opening week before crashing out and suffering a fractured kneecap on stage 6.
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