Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed a dominant sprint victory on stage 3 of the Critérium du Dauphiné in Riom. The Irishman was led out expertly by Shane Archbold and then delivered a powerful acceleration to claim the honours ahead of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Davie Ballerini (Astana). Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-Merida) finished safely in the peloton to retain the overall lead. Bennett has been among the season's outstanding sprinters and his assured finish here was a further indication of his form. After Archbold swung off with 200 metres to go, Bennett showed no hesitation in unleashing his sprint from distance and the result was never in doubt from the moment he hit the front. Van Aert showcased his strength to place a distant second, but a number of more established sprinters failed to make any discernible impact in the finale. Deceuninck-QuickStep fast man Alvaro Hodeg had to settle for 7th place, while André Greipel (Arkea-Samsic) was never in contention.ADVERTISEMENT "It was a pretty chaotic final. I was a little worried about how my legs were after the last two days, and then it was so cold during the stage. You're always going to feel bad when it's that cold," Bennett said afterwards. Bennett owed a particular debt to the efforts of Archbold, who only rejoined Bora-Hansgrohe in April after beginning the season at Irish Continental outfit EvoPro Racing. The New Zealander hit the front in the final kilometre to tee up Bennett's finishing effort. "At the last moment Shane said 'I'm still good, are you still on my wheel?' and he hit it and took me to 200m to go," Bennett said. "I felt really good in the final. I have to thank the full team again, they rode really hard all day and then the guys did a great job in the final putting me in a good position." How it unfolded
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