Vuelta a España: Sam Bennett wins stage 14 crash-marred sprint

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Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) won a crash-effected stage 14 at the Vuelta a España after most of the peloton were caught up in a huge pile up that held up the majority of the bunch inside the final kilometre.

Bennett jumped clear of what was left of the race and distanced second placed Maximiliano Ariel Richeze (Deceuninck-QuickStep) and Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) who had attacked with around 500m to go.

Several riders needed medical attention at the scene of the crash including world champion and GC contender Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). 

Race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) finished with the main field and retained his overnight lead.

For Bennett it was possibly the easiest Grand Tour success of his career. Still, he had to be in the right position at the right time, and his team kept him near the front throughout the final kilometres of the stage. 

That protection kept him safe when the crash occurred and he didn’t panic when Van Der Sande took off as the final road to the line began to climb. 

The crash ruled out several sprinters and their lead-outs and when Van Der Sande attacked Richeze countered. The Argentine looked impressive as he closed the gap but he only laid the ground work for Bennett, who latched onto the Deceuninck rider and then came around him before dispatching with both Richeze and the fading Van Der Sande before the  line.

How it unfolded

After the brutally tough terrain of stage 13 the Vuelta returned to friendlier terrain with a rare chance for the sprinters on the road to Oviedo.

Silvan Dillier (AG2R La Mondiale), Luka Pibernik (Bahrain-Merida), Harm Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal), Salvatore Puccio (Team Ineos), Diego Rubio (Burgos-BH) and Stéphane Rossetto (Cofidis) formed the first and only major break of the day but the six-man move were never given any leeway from an active peloton. The gap between the break and the bunch moved out to a maximum of 2:20 after the first hour of racing but with flat roads for most of the day, and a chance for the sprinters to shine, the peloton were unwilling to risk the stage by granting the break with a more secure buffer.

With just over 60km Rossetto, understandably threw in the towel, and sat up. That left five riders out front but they were soon down to four when Rubio slipped back. The break’s advantage briefly jumped from one minute to two but as Deceuninck-QuickStep, Mitchelton-Scott and Trek-Segafredo increased the pressure on the front of the main field the gap quickly evaporated.

With 4.5km to go the inevitable finally happened and the four survivors was brought back by a peloton racing at full throttle.

The main field navigated the twisting roads in the finale and the roundabouts that dotted the route without any issues but with just over 900m to go a touch of wheels near the front spelled disaster with riders crashing all across the wide open road.

Only a dozen or so made it through and when Van Der Sande attacked it looked as though the Belgian might take a shock win. However Richeze kicked for the line in hot pursuit. This was the cue Bennnett needed and he quickly latched on his rival lead-out man before distancing both him and Van Der Sande in quick succession.