IRELAND’S SAM BENNETT powered to victory in the seventh stage of the Giro d’Italia today — beating favourite Elia Viviani in a sprint finish at Praia a Mare.
Bora-Hansgrohe rider Bennett latched onto Viviani’s wheel at the end of the flat 159km ride from Pizzo to Calabria, before bursting past the Italian to grab his first-ever win on a Grand Tour.
Britain’s Simon Yates maintained the overall lead after finishing safely in the peloton, having taken the pink jersey by finishing second in Thursday’s sixth stage.
Friday’s ride was always going to end in a bunch sprint, with Davide Ballerini the last breakaway rider to be reeled in by the main group with 14km still to go.
Quick-Step’s Viviani was widely expected to claim his second win of the Giro and looked in a good position heading into the final kilometre with a strong lead-out train.
But Bennett stuck to his rival and just pipped the home favourite to the line to become the first Irish winner of a Giro stage since Stephen Roche in 1987.
“We tried so hard in the other sprints but never got the timing right. The team did a fantastic job and I want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point,” Bennett said.
'That was genius timing!' 😱
— Eurosport UK (@Eurosport_UK) May 11, 2018
Sam Bennett pips Elia Viviani to get his first ever Grand Tour stage win after a frantic sprint finish! 👏#Giro101 pic.twitter.com/XtcSAWjULW
“It’s very hard to get Viviani’s wheel, they all want it and I had to fight for it. I thought we had left it too late but the timing was right and I could use my power to get an advantage.”
Niccolo Bonifazio edged out his fellow Italian Sacha Modolo to complete the podium.
The general classification remained unchanged as the main contenders took a step back from the spotlight on a day for the sprinters, with Mitchelton-Scott’s Yates still leading by 16 seconds from defending champion Tom Dumoulin.
Esteban Chaves is third, a further 10 seconds adrift, with Chris Froome a minute and 10 seconds behind Yates after a difficult start to his bid for a third consecutive Grand Tour title.
“It was a nice day until the finale and sprint,” Yates said. “The break went early and never really got a gap so it was a good day.”
The overall favourites will face a far tougher assignment on Saturday as the race heads back into the mountains for the 209km eighth stage, with the final climb at Montevergine di Mercogliano 17km long with an average gradient of 5%.
- © AFP 2018; first published 16.39
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What if the corner backs are cynically wasting time passing between themselves – will they be getting black cards too? And if Spillane counts too many hand passes on the Sunday game will there be more sanctions?
Maybe the offending player should hop on their bad leg for 2 minutes or something? That would liven it up!!
Or maybe the GAA should let teams do what they do best and commit everything they have to winning and stop pandering to certain commentators.
Leon — I’d have to disagree with you. The amount of cynical fouling, play-acting, and lack of respect for refs and officials has been doing my head in for the past few years. I think the ‘professional foul’ in particular needs to be addressed. If one team needs a goal to win or draw, for instance, the other team pulls them down on the edge of the square and takes one (a yellow card) for the team. It shouldn’t be like that.
Should they let them have a chance to win or draw then?? Nonsense.
I would love to get rid of the play acting and have a lot more respect for officials and i agree with you there. But this is just trying to “improve” (see increase scores) the game to please certain pundits who spout the same rhetoric week in week out with no constructive input.
The Dublin v Donegal semi-final a few years ago was one of the most fascinating games I’d ever seen because of the tactics, intensity and strategy. Not every game needs 60 yd kick passes and 20 points to be entertaining.
@Leon
You seem to be incapable of disagreeing politely.
Quickly turning into a non contact sport ,with all the rule changes & diving.
What about abusing officials, is that to be condoned?
Dreadful suggestion. The problem is the standard of refereeing. Totally different rules on Saturday evening in a club game than you get on Sunday in an intercounty championship game.
Not great for the small clubs who mightn’t have big panels at their disposal either.
If they’re so insistent on bringing in some sort of rule as a solution to the fouling (rather than addressing the real issue of refereeing), why don’t they try the sin bin exactly the way it’s used in rugby. It works very well.
Sin bin would definitely be good. I think this black card is also worth a go though. Notwithstanding refereeing issues; something does have to change in my opinion. If a team gets 7 or 8 points ahead in the second half they can see the game out by faking injury and cynical fouling. It’s crap to watch.
And how many games have you refereed Cormac ?
This years championship should be good craic … FFS. Change the system and bring in the Sin Bin.
It’ll probably be scrapped because of racism!!
And put diving in there too!!
they are right blackcards :-)
Replace the rte studio with the newstalk crew and we can enjoy the coverage, problem solved.
Newstalk presenters really irritating me lately. Way to far up their own ar*es & ill tell you what newstalk guys & gals ( if you read the journal that is ) you are not really that good or funny. I loved the station initially it’s not even on my saved stations in my car anymore.
Sin bin anyone? Works in rugby and ice hockey. Forget this substituting for another player. That is not a punishment
You’ll need a degree to officiate games and the public wont have a clue. Tripping abuse and cynical fouls red card. Soccer and Gaa need to catch up,manly the players
Sin bin is the only logical solution. This black card can’t work at grass roots for obvious reasons.. They seem to be determined to break What’s not broke..
On a related topic….used to be a great rule in ice hockey….not sure if it still applies. When two players go at each other….the third man in gets red carded. Result is that two guys slug away until seperated by officials. No mass brawls. Would def be worth a shot in GAA.
What about the team who gets a black card and has no substitute? Joke of a rule
Please don’t play the black card
There may be trouble ahead with all the confusion and its all of their own making. Black cards, yellow cards and red cards, why don’t they use a deck of cards cos it sounds like a game of chance. Looks as though the GAA are just putting feelers out to see the reaction from managers. Too much spin from FRC and co. They may dig a hole and bury their report.
I can see it being an absolute nonsense but great for the media of course.
Why don’t they ban them from using their hands, make the pitch smaller and get rid of those sticks on top of the cross bar. Then you’d have a sport
There are too many cynical and violent tackles. I think perhaps stricter refs rather than a new card, would do it.
Just leave the game alone ! Had one on the best inter county championships last fee years last year