Both George Bennett and Steven Kruijswijk have done well in Catalonia today with regard to the general classification. In the final, the riders of Team LottoNL-Jumbo were in the group with favourites. This resulted in the eighth and tenth place respectively in the GC.

Today’s stage was in stark contrast to yesterday’s. While the latter went much slower than the slowest schedule, today’s race flew by. On the climb of La Molina, at eleven kilometres from the finish, the thinned out peloton broke. Bennett and Kruijswijk were on the right side of that break.

Though Bennett didn’t have an easy day because it took very long for the escape of the day to establish. “For ninety kilometres, there was no break. Then we finally had a leading group and the chasing begun. We were suffering a lot, but I think everybody was suffering today, no one felt great. It was really cold, especially in the descents, with snow everywhere.”

In the coming days, the focus will be on the general classification. “I want to hold on to my position in the general classification, which is going to be hard. Tomorrow, it will be a tricky stage in which Stevie and I have to stay out of trouble”, the New Zealander said.