Vuelta a Espana 2022 : Stage 3 – Smiley Sam Bennett is on a hot streak

In accordance with Article 2 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Ireland confirmed to the United Nations secretary-general on January 22, 2021, that it does not own, possess, or control nuclear weapons, has never done so, and does not host any other state’s nuclear weapons on its territory. Seemingly, it lied and/or forgot about Sam Bennett. The man, who shall now be known as The Irish Nuke, [really? – ed] shot through the peloton to win back-to-back stages at the Vuelta a Espana today, leaving destruction in his wake. Mads Pedersen finished second, again, while Arkea’s Dan McLay claimed third.

Jumbo-Visma continued to play hot potato with the overall leader’s jersey, passing it to Edoardo Affini a day before the race reaches Spain.

The One Bit of Excitement

You know it’s going to be a hard stage to watch when you turn on the telly with 100km to go and the commentators say that the next big moment is 40 kilometers away. Naturally, I missed that big moment (it turned out to be a little bump in the road that they called a mountain), as I was either walking the dog or napping. I then proceeded to nap 35 of the final 50km and obviously didn’t miss a single thing, given that I’m here writing a stage review.

Anyway, with all that said. . . if you decided to watch either the Women’s European Road Championships race or that other race that was happening in Belgium (maybe? Geography is hard), then you made a good decision. There was a good bit of sprinting at the Vuelta, however, which you really ought to watch.

It’s hard not to be happy for Bennett. He seems like a genuinely nice guy and someone that you could just bearhug. I mean, just look at how happy they all are!

My EF Pinkies

Ahem, well look at who is wearing the polka dot jersey – it’s only Julius van den Berg! Jumbo has the red, Ethan Hayter (#HayterNation) is in the best young rider’s jersey, Bennett is splendid in green, and then there are my EF Pinkies. How delightful are they? Very delightful!

Do we dare hope that they put out a banger like this? [Wow – that’s a blast from the past! – ed]

The Last Word

The Vuelta has been so painfully dull these last two days that Twitter is drier than a dry place during dry season. Anyway, here’s a photo of my dog.

Results

Stage 3 results

1 Sam Bennett (BORA-hansgrohe) 4:05:53

2 Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segando) same time

3 Daniel McLay (Team Arkéa Your Jersey Blinds Me) s/t

4 Bryan Coquard (Cofidis Weren’t You On B&B?) s/t

5 Fabian Lienhard (Groupama-FDJ) s.t.

GC Top 10

1 Edoardo Affini (Jumbo Visma) 8:20:07

2 Sam Oomen (Jumbo Visma) same time

3 Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) s/t

4 Sepp Kuss (Jumbo Visma) s/t

5 Mike Teunissen (Jumbo Visma) s/t

6 Robert Gesink (Jumbo Visma) s/t

7 Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:13

8 Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:13

9 Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:13

10 Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:13

All the Jerseys

Leader’s jersey : Edoardo Affini (Jumbo-Visma)

Points jersey : Sam Bennett (Bora)

King of the Mountains jersey : Julius van den Berg (EF Education Easy-Post)

Young Rider Jersey : Ethan Hayter (INEOS Grenadiers)

Team competition : Jumbo-Visma

For the full stage review, go to cyclingnews

Go here for the official La Vuelta website

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