Daniele Bennati dedicates Vuelta a Espana stage 18 win to late Wouter Weylandt
It was a long wait for Daniele Bennati but the Italian finally managed to register his first victory of the season during the stage 18 of the Vuelta a Espana 2011.
The cyclist dedicated the victory to his friend, Wouter Weylandt, who died after a crash at the Giro d’Italia 2011.
“This win goes to him and to a masseur on our team who is ill,” Bennati said afterwards. “I think Wouter helped me at the stage finish, he gave me strength”.
Daniele completed the 204.5 kilometre pursuit to Valladolid in the quickest time of 4 hours, 17 minutes and 17 seconds and restricted the race favourites.
Ben Swift of Team Sky Procycling finished second with Allan Davis, Lloyd Mondory and John Degenkolb achieving the third, the fourth and the fifth positions in the respective order.
“I’m very tired but I’m not the only one. Degenkolb has dominated the last four sprints, but I’m a rider with a lot of endurance, which is why I could win so late on in the Vuelta last year".
"They call me the Panther, and panthers always have the energy for one last swipe of their claws. Four years ago Wouter won on this finish line and for sure today he was with me”.
Daniele bagged a total number of 25 UCI points during the stage 18 of the race and secured the first spot with Ben Swift and Allan Davis registering the 20 and 16 points in the respective order.
The top fifteen cyclists after the stage 18 classifications are as follows:
1
Daniele Bennati (Ita) Radioshack-Nissan
4:17:17
2
Ben Swift (GBr) Sky Procycling
0:00:01
3
Allan Davis (Aus) Orica - GreenEdge
4
Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
5
John Degenkolb (Ger) Argos-Shimano
6
Davide Vigano (Ita) Lampre - ISD
7
Matti Breschel (Den) Rabobank Cycling Team
8
Koen De Kort (Ned) Argos-Shimano
9
Mitchell Docker (Aus) Orica - GreenEdge
10
Grégory Rast (Swi) Radioshack-Nissan
0:00:06
11
Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
12
Elia Viviani (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale
13
Simon Clarke (Aus) Orica - GreenEdge
14
Leonardo Fabio Duque (Col) Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne
15
Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
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