SAM BENNETT FINISHED sixth in stage seven of the Vuelta a Espana today, as Jesus Cofidis won the stage when an escape group beat the chasing pack over the 190km from Camargo to Cistierna in Castilla and Leon.

The race ended in a razor-edge, five-way dash for the line with Samuele Battistella of Astana coming second and Britain’s Fred Wright of Bahrain Victorious in third.

Remco Evenepoel maintained the overall lead as the main contenders took it easy with two major mountain stages coming up over the weekend.

Friday’s main challenge was the Puerto de San Gloria climb with 22.4km at 5.5% incline to an altitude of 1600m where some of the sprinters were dropped, allowing the escape to make it home before the pack.

Bennett was 29 seconds behind the escape group and is now 15 points clears in the points classification, on 142 ahead of Dane Mads Pedersen in second place. Remco Evenepoel remains the leader in the overall classification.