Sam Bennett out of Vuelta a Espana following Covid-19 positive

Several abandons have already taken place between today and the rest day at the Vuelta a Espana, and the race's first big casualty has came in the form of BORA - hansgrohe's Sam Bennett, leader of the points classification for several days.

This comes as a massive blow to the German team's ambitions who had seen Bennett return to good form to take the second and third stages of the race. However, his goals were not yet fully accomplished, as the Irishman intended on winning the points classification - a feat very possible taking into consideration his current form. He sat in second place, five points behind Mads Pedersen into stage 10.

The team has lined him up for today's time-trial, but the Irishman didn't show up at the start. Before the team would confirm it, race organizers had announced Bennett's abandon, and teammate Ryan Mullen confirmed it was a Covid-19 infection that saw him leave.

Mullen told Velonews: "Unfortunately Covid has caught up to him. It’s a massive shame. Sam is gonna be disappointed. He deserves to be here, he’s put the work in and he’s showed he’s back to his best. I’m sure he would have won the green jersey.”