Sam Bennett adds Dauphiné stage win to his record book

June 11 th 2019 - 16:57

Ireland’s Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 3 of the 71st Critérium du Dauphiné in a bunch gallop in Riom. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Davide Ballerini rounded out the podium. Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) retained the overall lead ahead of the 26.1km individual time trial in Roanne.

Berhane and Pacher from the gun

145 riders took the start of stage 3 in Le Puy-en-Velay. Natnael Berhane (Cofidis) and Quentin Pacher (Vital Concept-B&B Hôtels) rode away right after flag off. Berhane passed the côte d’Allègre (cat. 4, km 24.5) in first position with an advantage of 3’55’’ over the peloton. A maximum time gap of 4’05’’ was recorded at km 30. The Bahrain-Merida team of race leader Dylan Teuns set the tempo of the peloton on a moderated speed as the leading duo covered only 37km in the first hour, after which Arkea-Samsic and Bora-Hansgrohe seized the command of the pack with the aim of a bunch sprint finish. Deceuninck-Quick Step came in help with 65km to go.

KOM points for Berhane

Berhane went on to collect one point at the top of each climb: côte d’Augerolles (km 105.5), côte de Courpière (km 117.5) and côte de Coulaud (km 121). One hour before the end, the deficit of the peloton was reduced to less than one minute with the same teams of the sprinters swapping turns at the head of the pack at a moderated speed. It was all together again with 12km to go as the bunch delayed the regrouping as much as possible. The Bora-Hansgrohe paved the way at perfection for Bennett who launched his sprint with 200 metres to go and took his time to celebrate his first ever stage victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné before he crossed the line. It’s his seventh win this year.

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