Sam Bennett on the Paris-Nice podium after winning stage 6 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) carried on his early-season run of form with his fourth victory of the season and second this week at Paris-Nice. The Irishman made it into a select group on stage 6 of the Race to the Sun and snatched the win in the small bunch sprint.
Bennett edged out Arnaud Demare (Groupama-FDJ) after the Frenchman decided to go for a long sprint effort. Demare pulled out a large gap with his early move and it looked as if he may have done enough to seal the deal, but Bennett had just enough left in the tank to overhaul him and add another win to his 2019 palmares. Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) came through for third with John Degenkolb (Trek-Segafredo) in fourth.
Only 40 riders made it into the front group after a series of short climbs whittled down the bunch and put several sprinters in trouble.
Race leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) had a busy day, fighting with Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) for bonus seconds in the intermediate sprint. It ended up one apiece with Sanchez claiming the first and Kwiatkowski the second. Kwiatkowski comfortably made it over the lumpy finale to hold onto the leader’s jersey, and he goes into the mountains with an 18-second lead over his teammate Egan Bernal, while Sanchez is a further four seconds back.
Watch highlights of stage 6 of Paris-Nice above.
Get The Leadout Newsletter
The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!
