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Sam Bennett has become the sixth Irishman to win a Tour de France stage after a sprint ended on an incredibly fast 10th day of racing.
His Deceuninck – Quick-Step team protected the Carrick-on-Suir man on a 168.5 km fast technical stage from Île d’Oléron to Île de Ré, with many roundabouts and crosswinds, and outpointed Lotto’s Caleb Ewan Soudal on the line with Peter Sagan from Bora-Hansgrohe third.
The 29-year-old follows Shay Elliott, Seán Kelly, Stephen Roche, Martin Earley and Dan Martin in winning a stage of the world’s most famous cycle race, and has now claimed stages in all three Grand Tours after previous successes in the Giro d ‘Italia and Vuelta a España.
Bennett achieved second, third and fourth places during the first week of the tour, but regained Peter Sagan’s green jersey with this victory.
Speaking afterward, an excited Bennett said: “I don’t think he hit me. I forgot to throw the bike on the line at the time and I thought he might have caught me.
“I thought I was about to cry, but I’m in shock,” she said before breaking down in tears.
“I just want to thank everyone who has been involved, the entire team, Patrick for giving me this opportunity, and everyone it took to get here. I want to thank my wife, everyone around me.
“You dream about it, you never think it will happen. It did and, I don’t know, it took me a while to hit me.”
🎬 Relive the last kilometer of today’s stage and 🇮🇪 Irish @Sammmy_BeSprint victory!
🎬 Relive the last kilometer of today’s stage with the victory of the Irish 🇮🇪 @Sammmy_Be# TDF2020 pic.twitter.com/9MmOy1n28n
– Tour de France ™ (@LeTour) September 8, 2020
Bennett is now 21 points ahead of Sagan in what is turning out to be a fascinating battle for the green jersey.
There were no major changes to the overall standings, with Primoz Roglic retaining the overall lead with a gap of 21 seconds over defending champion Egan Bernal.
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