Bennett blasts his way to stage win

IRELAND’S Sam Bennett beat Elia Viviani in a sprint finish to win the seventh stage of the Giro, a 159-km ride along the Tyrrhenian sea yesterday.

Italian Viviani (Quick-Step Floors), already winner of two stages in the 2018 race, started his effort a tad too early and was eventually overpowered by Bora-Hansgrohe’s Bennett, who claimed his maiden grand tour stage win.

Italian Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) took third.

“I’m really happy. We tried so hard in other sprints but never got the timing right. The team did a fantastic job and want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point,” said Bennett.

Briton Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) retained the overall leader’s pink jersey after an uneventful ride from Pizzo, a day after he took the maglia rosa by finishing second in the stage ending up Mount Etna. –Reuters