Sam Bennett has taken victory on stage 3 of Tour de Wallonie, putting in an incredible kick on the drag to the finish line to win it well.
He got the better of yesterday's winner Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) and John Degenkolb (Lotto-Soudal) after a wet 192km stage from Montzen to Visé.
Bennett sprinted in at the head of a very small peloton after the undulating course and very hard racing trimmed the field back, with stage 1 winner and yellow jersey Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) one of those whose challenge fell away today.
It was Bennett's second victory after the re-start of the season with the Deceuninck-QuickStep sprinter having taken a stage of the Vuelta a Burgos in Spain two weeks ago in similarly impressive style.
Bennett claimed the win after a
nail-biting finish in which a four-man escape that went clear on the final
climb with 10km to the finish was only caught deep inside the final kilometre.
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In that group was Bennett’s Czech team
mate Zdenek Stybar as well as Jonathan Narvaez (Team Ineos) Greg Van Avermaet
(CCC Team) and Loic Vliegen (Circus Wanty).
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When they were caught, by a much reduced
peloton, Deceuninck-QuickStep’s Florian Sénéchal put in
such a strong lead out for Sam Bennett that he pulled the eventual top three
clear of the front of the bunch.
When Sénéchal swung over just before the
finish after doing his stint on the front, the fight for stage honours was
between the only three men on his wheel; Bennett Demare and Degenkolb.
At that point Irish cyclist Bennett stepped up and demolished the gallop to the line for a great win.
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