Utrecht (Netherlands) (AFP) - Irishman Sam Bennett of Bora won stage two of the Vuelta a Espana on Saturday, bursting ahead of a speeding pack in a frantic bunch sprint after a 175.1km run between the Dutch towns of 's-Hertogenbosch and Utrecht.
Denmark's Mads Pedersen was second by a bike length and Belgian champion Tim Merlier was third a day after Jumbo-Visma won the opening team time-trial
Mike Teunissen of Jumbo took the overall leader's red jersey from teammate and Dutch compatriot Robert Gesink.
Bennett finished in 3hrs 49min and 34sec and also took the green sprint points jersey, level on 50 points with Pedersen, taking his fourth stage win on the Vuelta.
"I knew I'd do it again, it was just a matter of getting the right legs.What I'm really happy about is continuing my pattern of winning at least one stage in every Grand Tour I've done since 2018," said Bennett.
Shortly after the 184 riders left 's-Hertogenbosch, six riders broke away from the pack.
Massive weekend crowds lined the streets as Merlier's Alpecin team led the pursuit of the escape.
Julius van den Berg of EF Education-EasyPost was first to the top of the 2.1km long climb at 2.4% incline to claim the polka dot jersey.
Sunday's stage three is also flat for a 193.5km run from Breda and back, before the peloton transfers to the Basque Country on Monday.
