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Sam Bennett lost some ground to Peter Sagan in the fight for the green jersey in recent days of the Tour de France, but he is still on top after stage 14, 194.5 kilometers from Clermont-Ferrand.
Triple world champion Sagan cut Bennett’s lead to 42 points when he finished fourth after the Irishman fell early and was unable to fight for victory in the final.
Bennett finished in 106th place, while Nicolas Roche was 89th and Dan Martin had the best result of the Irish competitors at 67th.
Bennett, who is looking to become the first Irishman since Sean Kelly in 1989 to win the green jersey, leads with 262 to Sagan’s 219.
Sagan hopes to claim a record-setting eighth green jersey, but has been far from his best this season.
His Bora-Hansgrohe team set up a fast pace on an early climb to split the group and Bennett found himself behind and was unable to return despite a long chase with his Deceuninck-Quick Step teammates, but Sagan failed to deliver a victory .
Danish Soren Kragh Andersen timed his effort to perfection to win the stage. There were multiple attacks on the short climb to Col de la Croix Rousse in the final, but Kragh Andersen was patient and jumped at the right moment.
The Team Sunweb rider attacked with just under three kilometers to go and never looked back as Slovenian Luka Mezgec took second place and Italian Simone Consonni came home third, 15 seconds behind.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey ahead of Sunday 15’s stage, a 174.5km mountain hike that ended at the Col du Grand Colombier.
“I waited for the right moment. Some riders attacked, but I waited. When I saw that there was a quiet moment, I went,” said Kragh Andersen, who gave Sunweb its second Tour win this year after Swiss Marc Hirschi will win the twelfth. stage in Sarran on Thursday.
“When I saw Marc win and me when I look at the dynamics of the team, it’s great. We talk to each other and we are developing as a team.”
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