Aguilar de Campóo (Spain) (AFP)
We thought Sam Bennett still imperial in the sprint on the Tour of Spain but the Irishman, first on the line Thursday, was finally downgraded for a shoulder, leaving Pascal Ackermann the 9th stage, which did not change anything in the general classification.
History seemed to repeat itself: with one bike in advance, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck) was still the best in the sprint, as in the 4th stage, ahead of the German Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and the Belgian Gerben Thijssen (Lotto Soudal).
But, after viewing the video footage, the judges downgraded the Irishman for an illegal shoulder kick to Latvian Emils Liepins in the final brawl.
Pascal Ackermann, already winner of two stages in the Tour of Italy in 2019, thus wins his first victory in the Vuelta
Before this arrival in Aguilar de Campoo, in Castile and León (north-west), the sprinters had nothing but the crumbs to eat in this autumnal Tour of Spain.
Only Bennett had already won a sprint last Friday, and the green jersey from the last Tour de France almost did not repeat.
Bennett and Ackermann will be able to put the cover back on Friday during the 10th stage, 185 km long between Castro Urdiales and Suances on the Cantabrian coast (north) and again promised to the sprinters.
As agreed, the day was quiet for the favorites.
The red jersey Richard Carapaz stayed warm in the peloton, as did his runner-up, defending champion Primoz Roglic, who is only 13 seconds behind after his victory in the mountains on Wednesday.
The Slovenian, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Thursday, just came out of the crowd 12 km from the end, to change bikes after a mechanical problem, without impact.
The 157.7 km stage through semi-arid plains and under the blue skies of Castile and Leon, was mostly calm.
The only attraction, apart from the monasteries that marked the course, the long breakaway of two Spaniards, Aritz Bagües (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Juan Felipe Osorio (Burgos-BH), was mastered throughout by the peloton and resumed at 22 km from the term.
For the two partners, if the dream logically ended in front of the teams which drove hard behind, Deuceninck-QuickStep in the lead, it was above all the opportunity to show the jersey of these two teams invited to the Vuelta.
© 2020 AFP