Sam Bennett sprints to 2023 Vuelta San Juan Stage 1 Victory

The first stage of Vuelta a San Juan ended in a chaotic bunch sprint Sam Bennett beat Michael Morkov and Giacomo Nizzolo

The stage started with a group of 10 riders forming a breakaway which consisted mainly of riders from local Argentinian teams.

Christofer Jurado (Panamá es Cultura y Valores ) was among them and crested the 3rd category climb first, twice on the stage, to take the King of the Mountains jersey.

Eventually the break was reduced to 2 and was caught approximately 20 km to go. And the teams with sprinters started to make the lead outs for their fast men's. A big crash happened at 8.2 km to the finish line that break the peloton, but it didn't compromise the sprint.

In the last km Soudal-Quick-Step was leading the peloton until Bora-Hansgrohe rider Danny Van Poppel did an amazing lead out for teammate Sam Bennett. He beat Michael Morkov and Giacomo Nizzolo. Fabio Jakobsen was caught up behind due to a crash.

The Irishman takes not only the win, but also the leaders and points jersey into the second day of racing.

VIDEO: 2023 Vuelta San Juan Stage 1 Highlights

2023 Vuelta San Juan Stage 1 Top 10

1 IRL Sam Bennett BORA-hansgrohe 03:19:36
2 DEN Michael Mørkøv Soudal Quick-Step + 00
3 ITA Giacomo Nizzolo Israel-Premier Tech + 00
4 NED Danny van Poppel BORA-hansgrohe + 00
5 RUS Gleb Syritsa Astana Qazaqstan Team + 00
6 ITA Elia Viviani INEOS Grenadiers + 00
7 SVK Peter Sagan TotalEnergies + 00
8 ECU Jhonnatan Narvaez INEOS Grenadiers + 00
9 ITA Enrico Zanoncello Green Project-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè + 00
10 ITA Attilio Viviani Team Corratec + 00