Irishman Bennett secures Dutch La Vuelta stage win
Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) was the strongest sprinter to win stage 2 of La Vuelta 22, in Utrecht.
The Irishman claimed his second victory this year and his first Grand Tour win since 2020 – also in La Vuelta –the three-week event where he’s been the most successful with a total of four triumphs.
Bennett outsprinted Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Deceuninck).
Mike Teunissen (Jumbo-Visma) finished 4th and took La Roja, the leader’s red jersey, from his team-mate and Dutch compatriot Robert Gesink.
Today, he will enjoy it on home soil with a 3rd stage set around Breda.
After 3km, Pau Miquel (Kern Pharma) made sure he’ll have a special 22nd birthday as he joins four riders at the front: Julius van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH), Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-Samsic).
Their lead was up to 5’05’’ when AlpecinDeceuninck start driving the chase, 15km into the stage.
Tim Merlier’s teamates controlled the gap at around two minutes and accelerate again to bring the attackers’ lead down to 10’’ as the race entered the last 100km.
The gap slightly increased again, as thee early attackers launch a hard battle for the King of the Mountains points of the day, up the Amerongseberg (cat-4, km 105.1).
Van den Berg sprints to the summit, ahead of Guernalec, and the Dutchman secures the polka-dot jersey for himself.
After the climb, the gap went back up to one minute but Alpecin-Deceuninck accelerate again. The early attackers are eventually caught with 59km to go.
Some 14km later, it was time for Luis Angel Mate (Euskaltel-Euskadi) to set off at the front of the race.
The Spanish baroudeur, who committed to donate a tree to reforest the Sierra Bermeja for each km he would spend at the front of La Vuelta 22, enters the last 40km with a lead of 30 seconds.
The gap wass up to 35 with 30km to go. The tension in the bunch increased towards the final rush to Utrecht, and so did the pace. Mate is eventually caught with 21km to go.
Nobody else got away until the final sprint, dominated by Bennett (ahead of Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and Tim Merlier.
Mike Teunissen sprinted to the fourth and became the second Dutch leader of La Vuelta 22 in two days of racing on Dutch soil, after his team-mate and compatriot Robert Gesink.