Sam Bennett won the third stage of the Vuelta a Espana on Monday as the Bora-hansgrohe rider sprinted to a convincing victory in Alicante.
Bennett claimed his fourth grand tour stage win, and his first at the Vuelta. He crossed the line ahead of Belgium’s Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo), who came second, and Slovenian Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) in third.
Bennett’s Irish compatriot Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) retained the overall leader’s red jersey.
Roche retained an advantage of two seconds over Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and five over Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First).
“I felt so bad yesterday, I can’t tell you how bad my legs were in the stage,” Bennett said afterwards. “The team got me in the right place at the right time. If it wasn’t for the team effort today I definitely wouldn’t have got it.
“I went with momentum to the left, got on Trek and I knew it was a really fast final and kicked first. I think Trek waited a little bit too long.
“I’m delighted to get it. It means a lot to take a Grand Tour stage victory, especially in the Irish national champion’s jersey.”
The fourth stage on Tuesday will include an 175.5km-route between Cullera and El Puig. Its flat finish should again favour the sprinters before a more mountainous stage five on Wednesday.
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – stage 3 results (Ibi. Ciudad del Juguete – Alicante):
| 1 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | 4:25:17 |
| 2 | Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 3 | Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 4 | Ion Aberasturi (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | ,, |
| 5 | Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 6 | Maximiliano Richeze (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 7 | Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
| 8 | Cyril Barthe (Euskadi-Murias) | ,, |
| 9 | Szymon Sajnok (CCC) | ,, |
| 10 | Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 11 | Marc Sarreau (Groupama-FDJ) | ,, |
| 12 | Damien Touze (Cofidis) | ,, |
| 13 | Jonas Koch (CCC) | ,, |
| 14 | Maximilian Walscheid (Team Sunweb) | ,, |
| 15 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) | ,, |
| 16 | Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 17 | Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data) | ,, |
| 18 | Viacheslav Kuznetsov (Katusha-Alpecin) | ,, |
| 19 | John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) | ,, |
| 20 | Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | ,, |
Vuelta a Espana 2019 – general classification after stage 3:
| 1 | Nicolas Roche (Team Sunweb) | 9:51:14 |
| 2 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +02” |
| 3 | Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) | +08” |
| 4 | Mikel Nieve (Mitchelton-Scott) | +22” |
| 5 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | +33” |
| 6 | Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) | +35” |
| 7 | Sergio Higuita (EF Education First) | +37” |
| 8 | Wilco Kelderman (Team Sunweb) | +38” |
| 9 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | +46” |
| 10 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | ,, |
| 11 | Victor De La Parte (CCC) | +48” |
| 12 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +49” |
| 13 | Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) | +51” |
| 14 | Fabio Aru (UAE Team Emirates) | +01’08” |
| 15 | Alexander Aranburu (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) | +01’10” |
| 16 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | ,, |
| 17 | George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) | +01’13” |
| 18 | Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) | +01’16” |
| 19 | Zdenek Stybar (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +01’32” |
| 20 | Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) | +01’39” |
