La Vuelta 2022: Sam Bennett beats Mads Pederson to make it two stage wins in a row in thrilling sprint finish

Sam Bennett made it back-to-back stage wins at this year’s La Vuelta for Bora Hansgrohe, timing his sprint to perfection at the finish in Breda. Bennett held off a charging Mads Pedersen (Trek–Sagafredo) for the second stage in a row, with Dan McLay (Arkea Samsic) also just missing out on the win.

Ad Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates) went early in the sprint but finished down in ninth with the rest of the general classification riders finishing safely in the bunch. Vuelta a España'I will realise how special this is' — Teunissen reacts to wearing red jersey on Stage 33 HOURS AGO On a largely quiet day, which started with a tribute that saw the riders pass through a church to pay tribute to those who have passed away from Covid-19, the breakaway was established early.

Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal), Pau Miquel (Equipo Kern Pharma), Julius van den Berg (EF Education Easy Post), Jan Bakelants (Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert), Ander Okamika (Burgos BH), Jose Herrada (Cofidis) and Mikel Iturria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) formed the leading group that hovered around the three-minute mark before being closed down. An unseen crash saw Michael Woods hit the deck, with the Canadian appearing to cut his head as he was forced to abandon La Vuelta.

Alpecin and Jumbo led the chase and caught the breakaway with 16km to go as the teams prepared for a bunch sprint, which was won by Bennett. More to follow...