Bennett crashes close to the line in Paris-Nice race

Sam Bennett got a major scare in the finale of stage three of Paris-Nice on Tuesday, crashing hard close to the line and limping home minutes after the peloton.

The Irish road race champion had appeared to be in a good position to try to win the stage in La Châtre, but was brought down when other riders tangled and Hugo Hofstetter (Israel Start Up Nation) veered to the right.

This shunted Bennett into the barriers and then onto the ground. He lay there for some time, looking winded, and then held his right wrist before eventually climbing back on his bike. He crossed the line two minutes and 49 seconds behind the sprint winner Ivan Garcia Cortina (Bahrain McLaren).

Fears that he might have fractured his wrist or collarbone were fortunately assuaged after medical checks by his Deceuninck-Quick-Step team. They found that nothing was broken, but he needed four stitches in one of his fingers.

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“I lost some skin and needed those stitches because when I went into the barrier I hit the metal part,” he said. “But luckily everything else seems pretty okay. In the beginning, as I was lying on the road and there was a bit of shock, as I had no idea how serious it was, but it’s a good thing nothing is broken.”

Abrasions

Bennett’s injury brought back memories of a bad crash on stage one of the 2016 Tour de France. He suffered bad abrasions to the same hand but was able to remain in the Tour. He will also be able to stay on in Paris-Nice.

“I will continue the race and start Wednesday’s individual time trial. I’m quite happy it will be a short stage tomorrow, and I hope things will turn around for me at some point.”

Bennett has taken three career victories in the French race and had hoped to do the same before it ends on Sunday. However the terrain becomes more difficult after Wednesday’s time trial and this plus his injuries mean that his chances of that are very uncertain.