Bennett climbs up

New Zealand’s top road rider George Bennett, of Nelson, earned the praise of his team boss after climbing into the top-20 in the cycling Tour of Spain. Bennett finished 26th in the eighth stage of the Vuelta a Espana, which moved him to 20th on general classification. He was 3min 37sec down on tour leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who had a 19sec margin on Spain’s Alejandro Valverde with another 8sec to Tour de France winner Chris Froome.