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Sam Bennett bounced back from Monday’s disappointment by taking the intermediate sprint loot on stage four of today’s Tour de France.
The 29-year-old Deceuninck – Quick-Step driver was denied Caleb Ewan’s first stage victory in a thrilling final sprint yesterday, but earned some consolation and valuable points in the main peloton sprint battle earlier from the mountainous end to 160.5 today. -Kilometer stage from Sisteron to Orcieres-Merlette.
Bennett is now right up there with seven-time winner Peter Sagan in the battle for the Vert Jersey with 83 points. However, as Sagan is ahead in the overall standings, he will continue to wear the jersey.
Following his speed efforts, Bennett finished the stage among the back markers when Slovenian Primoz Roglic prevailed in the first mountaintop final.
Roglic’s compatriot, Tadej Pogacar, was second and Frenchman Guillaume Martin was third in a sprint with all the favorites before the race.
Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey when he was fifth.
Nicolas Roche was 22, just 28 seconds behind Roglic and Dan Martin was 53, 3’09 behind. The pair are ranked 24th and 74th, respectively, in the overall rankings, while Bennett is 156th.
💚 A well fought Intermediate Sprint in the platoon saw 🇮🇪 @Sammmy_Be prevail!
💚 A hotly contested intermediate sprint in the peloton! It’s Sam Bennett who comes first!# TDF2020 #TDFunited pic.twitter.com/eafqmhUhi4
– Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) September 1, 2020
Roglic was seen as the favorite for the overall victory at this year’s Tour before sustaining injuries in a crash at the Criterium du Dauphine last month, but seemed calm as he leapt forward to claim victory.
Roglic is now just seven seconds behind Alaphilippe, and this performance will be seen as a sign that he has maintained the form that saw him lead at the Dauphine before retiring before the final stage.
“It was quite a tough day actually, quite hot, but the guys did a very good job again, I was in a good position all the time and in the end I was able to sprint well,” said the Slovenian.
When asked if he expected victory to come with the yellow jersey, he added: “I have to accept it, I don’t really care. It was a nice day, we stayed safe in the end, we won, which is even better.” and we have to continue like this.
“I’m coming back (from injury). We see that I’m still coming back and now I can run every day feeling even better.”
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