13-05-2025
Sam Bennett takes sixth in sprint finish at stage four of Giro d'Italia
DUTCH SPRINTER CASPER van Uden outsmarted the favourites to win stage four of the Giro d'Italia on Tuesday while Mads Pedersen held the overall race lead finishing fourth.
Olav Kooij of Visma was second and Maikel Zijlaard of Tudor was third for an all-Dutch podium after a nervy mass bunch sprint on a winding and relatively narrow home straight in downtown Lecce, in the heel of Italy.
Ireland's Sam Bennett was part of that bunch and finished the stage in sixth place in a dramatic conclusion.
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Darren Rafferty is in 112th place on the general classification with 12:05:2 while Bennett is in 150th position on 12:15:47, with Pedersen leading on 11:44:31.
🔻 A very fast final kilometer in Lecce, and a battle between the fastest legs of the Netherlands
🔻Un chilometro finale tiratissimo a Lecce, e poi la battaglia tra le gambe più veloci d'Olanda!
⏪ The @continentaltire Ultimo Kilometro ⤵️#GirodItalia — Giro d'Italia (@giroditalia) May 13, 2025
The fourth stage rolled out of tourist town Alberobello, known for its atypical conical roofs, for a largely flat 189km run to Lecce with packed ranks of fans in towns and villages.
Lone escapee in Spanish rider Francisco Munoz of Polti Visit Malta broke from the flag and rode the first 130km of the route on his own.
The 23-year-old would later be caught as he spent the day in the spotlight.
A crash at a feed zone brought down Dane Pedersen in the pink jersey, Briton Tom Pidcock and French climber Romain Bardet amongst others as Canadian Nickolas Zukowsky became the third rider to pull out of this year's Giro.
Additional reporting by Sinéad Farrell
– © AFP 2025
