Sam Bennett was forced to withdraw from the Tour de France on Wednesday’s stage 17, a day after enjoying his best placing in the race.
The Irishman had been ill for several days and came under pressure on a very hectic start to Wednesday’s stage. He was distanced early on and, riding alone while unwell, was in danger of missing the time cut in the race.
Bennett eventually pulled to the side of the road after 90 kilometres of racing. He was six minutes back at that point and looked drained when he stopped.
It is a disappointing end to the race for the Irishman, who was looking forward to the Tour end in Nice on Sunday. He spends much of the year in nearby Monaco and would have regarded the concluding stage as a mini-homecoming.
The fact that Tuesday’s stage was his highest placing in the race will add to the frustration. He was fourth in the sprint into Nîmes, building on sixth and ninth earlier in the Tour. It was the final sprint stage of this year’s event.
“I haven’t had good sensations since Saturday, and the rest day didn’t allow me to recover enough,” Bennett said on Tuesday evening. “It was a hard day. I took things step by step, and hung on to get the best possible result for what was my last opportunity.
“I’m a bit disappointed with fourth place, but given my sensations over the past few days, it’s still satisfying.”
He indicated that he planned to help his team-mates in the remaining stages.
Bennett last competed in the race in 2020, winning two stages plus the green jersey. While this year’s Tour didn’t bring the same sort of success, getting such a long race into his legs should help him build form for the remainder of the season.
His team has said it will build a stronger lead-out team around him for 2025, and he will hope for more success in next year’s Tour.
Richard Carapaz beat Simon Yates to victory on stage 17 in SuperDevoluy as race leader Tadej Pogacar put more pressure on an ailing Jonas Vingegaard in the fight for yellow.
Carapaz rode away from Yates on the Col du Noyer, the penultimate climb of the 178km stage from Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and extended his lead on the road up to the finish to win by 37 seconds.
As the breakaway celebrated a rare success on this Tour, Pogacar yet again ignited the general classification battle several minutes back down the road as he attacked near the top of the Noyer.
Vingegaard was immediately in trouble, and although he and Remco Evenepoel got back to Pogacar on the descent, the Dane had no response to an attack from Evenepoel on the final climb.
Evenepoel took 12 seconds out of Vingegaard’s advantage in second place – and lost two more to Pogacar on the line. The Slovenian’s lead over the defending champion stands at three minutes and 11 seconds, with Evenepoel five minutes and nine seconds down in third.
