George Bennett finished 26th in the eighth stage of the Vuelta a Espana. Team LottoNL-Jumbo’s New Zealander ended as 14th of the peloton on the steep final climb to La Camperona. Sergey Lagutin (Team Katyusha) won the stage, Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took the overall lead. Bennett is now placed 20th at 3’37”.

“I expected the teams of the overall contenders to be interested in the stage victory today,” Sports Director Addy Engels said. “They weren’t, unfortunately, so the winner came out of the break. In a stage like this, we only have George Bennett and Robert Gesink who are able to win on such a final climb. Robert doesn’t have the form to do that yet and George’s overall position is too good to get the space.

“The performance George delivered today is strong if you ask me,” Engels continued. “He ended up 14th out of the peloton. The differences between the overall contenders weren’t too big, as well, only Quintana took a lot of time.”

New plans

Bennett wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance. “I made some mistakes before the final climb, so I didn’t start it in optimal form,” he added. “I pushed as hard as I could, afterwards. I exploded in the end, so I lost some places in the final kilometres.

"I was really disappointed after Steven Kruijswijk had to leave the Vuelta, but I’m making some new plans and I’m eager to make the most of it.”