Bennett finished one bike ahead of Ackermann in a group sprint that decided the flat stage to Aguilar del Campú in northern Spain.
However, Bennett was stripped of victory by the race commissaire. The race commissaire deemed his double-shouldered dive by Trek-Segafredo's Emilus Liepins with 1km to go to be excessive.
Ackermann, who had been promoted to first place after a 30-minute wait at the finish, insisted that Bennett's penalty was the right one, even though, as he himself pointed out, he had only recently been demoted by a dubious maneuver at Scheldeprais.
"I didn't talk to the other rider, I just watched the video later," Ackerman said of the incident with his former teammate, adding, "Sam had two fights with Trek riders. [Considering all the crashes he's had in recent weeks, he had to be a little more considerate of the other riders. It was the right decision."
Asked if he thought the recent increase in crashes was the result of overly aggressive sprinting, Ackermann said that he did not think there was an increase in dangerous racing. Rather, he indirectly blamed the current economic strain in cycling caused by the pandemic.
"It's just that the races are harder and the finals are harder. [And the COVID-19 situation is not making it any easier. A lot of riders are without contracts right now, so more riders [are] taking more risks.
"It's understandable that some riders will fight a little more in the finals because every result is important this year. That said, maybe it's the way the riders are riding that's making it more dangerous.
Regarding Bennett's case, the 26-year-old pointed out that there is a historical precedent that Caleb Yuan (Lotto Soudal) was involved in "some years ago" - perhaps in the finale of the fifth stage of the 2019 Santos Tour Down Under, when the Australian rider was in the same He was likely referring to when he tangled with sprinter Yasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates). Ewan won the stage but was subsequently demoted and fined.
At the time of the incident, Cycling News reported that "Ewan came from far back in the final sprint, rubbed shoulders with Philipsen, used his head to get on Peter Sagan's wheel and burst the wheel of the Bora-Hansgrohe rider to finish first on the stage, with Philipsen in second and Sagan in finished third," the report said.
Ewan later said in a statement from the team, "I was on Peter Sagan's wheel for the last few kilometers, but Philipsen tried to take my place by trying to push me off Sagan's wheel."
"In a sprint you are not allowed to take your hands off the wheel, so I had to use my head to avoid hitting the barriers. The movement of my head can of course be better understood by helicopter, but many former sprinters will agree that my maneuvers were not irregular."
[23Ackermann, who finished fourth in the bunch sprint won by Sam Bennett in the only previous week of the Vuelta, won his first two Tirreno-Adriatico stages and the points jersey, his seventh victory of the 2020 season.
Ackermann admitted that he was pleased with his victory, given the extremely limited opportunities given to fast men in this year's Vuelta.
"I think tomorrow [stage 10] is a very interesting stage because it could be a sprint or a breakaway finish.
"But then there is only Madrid. "
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