Cycling: George Bennett stays in sixth despite bike issues at Giro d'Italia

  • 17/05/2018
The Kiwi cyclist now sits more than two minutes behind Simon Yates in the overall rankings.
The Kiwi cyclist now sits more than two minutes behind Simon Yates in the overall rankings. Photo credit: Reuters

Top Kiwi cyclist George Bennett has been frustrated by a bike issue which halted his charge during stage 11 of the Giro d'Italia.

The Nelson rider's held onto sixth place in the overall rankings after finishing in 12th on a challenging 97km stage.

Bennett headed into the day 1m 36s behind stage winner and pink jersey holder Simon Yates, but he now sits 2m 9s behind the Brit after his progress was stalled after he broke his chain on the final climb and had to change his bike. 

"That was defiantly a lot harder than I expected," Bennett said after the race.

"I broke my bike at a bad moment; I jammed and broke the chain, so I had to do a whole bike change.

"I was in a good position, the boys did a good job to get me up front, but Yates went, and I went after him, and I put myself in a bad spot and struggled to the line." 

 Team Sunweb rider and defending champion Tom Dumoulin is 47sec behind Yates in the race for the pink jersey, while Tour de France champion Chris Froome crossed the line 40 seconds behind Yates in 23rd, to drop out of top 10 in the overall standings.

Stage 12 begins on Thursday in Osimo and runs 214km to Imola.

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