Bennati still hunting for Vuelta stage win

Italian rider Daniele Bennati was a frustrated third at the end of the Vuelta a España’s 15th stage, being beaten by both André Greipel (Columbia HTC) and William Bonnet (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) in the mass gallop to the line in Puertollano. It completed a frustrating hat-trick of such placings for the Liquigas sprinter, who was also third on stages five and six. His last win was the overall classification of the Giro di Sardegna back in February.

“I am very saddened by yet another [minor] place gathered in this Vuelta,” he said. “My condition is not bad but unfortunately, because of situations that are created in the final part of the stage, I am not able to exploit it properly.

“Today, thanks to the support of the team, I felt that it could be a good time to rectify that,” he said. “But in the final metres, the work of the Columbia team ensured that I stayed on the wheel of Henderson with Greipel behind me. When I jumped the sprint was into a headwind and he had little problem in coming around me.”

Bennati said that he believes today’s 17th stage, plus the concluding leg of the race in Madrid, both offered chances to him. “I have a great desire to prove who is the real Bennati and break this bad luck,” he said.

Follow Cyclingnews on Twitter for the very latest coverage of events taking place in the cycling world - twitter.com/cyclingnewsfeed