By Chris Forster
New Zealand cyclist George Bennett is unhappy about a 20 second penalty he copped late on Stage 12 of the Tour de France.
Bennett proved he can mix it with the big guns during the climb into the Pyrenees, as he finished in eight place to move to ninth in the overall standings.
But the 27 year old from Nelson lost some valuable time, when officials decided to penalise him during the final 10 kilometres of the race.
"Yeah I got a stupid 20 second penalty from some crazy rule that I didn't even know about. I took a bottle from a spectator in the last ten K ..., and apparently that's not allowed", Bennett told Newshub Sport.
The Team LottoNL-Jumbo was also pushing for an historic stage win, but was swallowed up his rivals in the final climb to the finish line.
Bennett backed up his breakthrough on Stage nine, when he brook into the top ten in the General Classification.
He's already looking ahead to the next stage in the Pyrenees.
"It was good to have some confirmation that the first good mountain day I had wasn't just a fluke.
"I take more confidence out of today than I did in the last one."
Bennett's late move was countered by Frenchman Romain Bardet, who pipped Italian Fabio Aru and Colombian Rigoberto Uran in the surge to the finish line.
Aru takes over the leader's yellow jersey from Chris Froome, who couldn't stick with the front three.
Newshub.
