Sam Bennett (Deceuninck-Quickstep) won the Vuelta a Burgos on Friday after a successful late attack instead of a sprint, taking his first win in a cycling restart.

Bennett, from Ireland, was already well-positioned in the finale, but when there was a brief hesitation caused by a crash with 1km to go, he reacted a few tenths faster than the pack and passed them on the slight climb that followed.

Bennett then pulled away from the chasing group on a small, dragging climb before a steep descent down the finish straight, widening the gap to Arnaud Demaret (Groupama-FDJ) and Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) to win.

Putting these pieces together at the right time was no mean feat, but the Irish champion's resourcefulness earned him his third win of the season, six months after stage wins at the Torquay Classic and Santos Tour Down Under this past January.

"It was a hot and hard final and unfortunately Michael (Morkov, lead out man) crashed, but the whole team did a great job, 9]

." After the crash, I looked around to see who was there and everyone was posing, so I decided to go."

.

Bennett, like the rest of the peloton, had already crossed the small finish climb when the peloton crossed the finish with about 35 km to go in stage 4, but found it rather tough the second time around.

"It took a lot longer than I remembered, and it hurt a lot," Bennett said.

"But I was really happy to win.

Bennett finished third in Wednesday's straighter second stage, but he had already won last year's Vuelta a España in Oviedo in a similar roller-coaster finale, and he said the final winding climb might have suited him He agreed.

"Sometimes a little climb like that can benefit you," he said.

For Dečuninck-Quick-Step, Bennett's victory is the second in 24 hours at the Vuelta a Burgos, and with Remco Evenpole holding the overall lead, the team is now ready for Saturday's final stage (a showdown at the summit finish in Lagunas de Neira) The team is now perfectly prepared for the final stage, which will take place at the summit of Lagunas de Neira on Saturday.

Bennett also had words of praise for the Vuelta a Burgos itself.

"It was a really great event and they did a great job," Bennett said. 'I hope cycling comes back here.'