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Sam Bennett Sprints to Victory at Critérium du Dauphiné Stage 3

By Monica Buck

The Bora-Hansgrohe pro was dropped off in a perfect position by Shane Archbold with 200 m to go, wasted no time and sprinted clear of the whole pack. He even had time to sit up and celebrate before crossing the finishing line. Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) took the impressive second place and Davide Ballerini (Astana) finished third.

“After a great job from the Bora Hansgrohe boys, I was happy to pull this out of the bag!” the Irishman wrote on his Twitter after adding another victory to his successful 2019 campaign.

The race leader Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) managed to stay in the lead, but the real battle for GC is only about to begin. Today, a 26-km individual time trial will happen, which is long enough to put minutes between some of the GC contenders. A 2.3-km climb halfway through the stage should offer excitement as well.

The likes of Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin should show their true form in this solo effort. Who do you think will triumph?

Critérium du Dauphiné 2019 stage 3 results

1. Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) – 4:15:25
2. Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma)
3. Davide Ballerini (Astana Pro Team)
4. Clement Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale)
5. Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo)
6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)
7. Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
8. Jens Debusschere (Katusha-Alpecin)
9. Luka Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott)
10. Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto-Soudal)

GC after stage 3

1. Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) – 11:52:28
2. Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) + 3s
3. Alexey Lutsenko (Astana) + 20s
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)
5. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) + 24s
6. Michael Woods (EF Education First)
7. Wout Poels (Team Ineos)
8. Chris Froome (Team Ineos)
9. Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ)
10. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott)