Cycling: George Bennett stays in top 10 at Giro d'Italia after exciting finish

Richard Carapaz won the stage. Photo / Photosport

George Bennett has remained ensconced in the top 10 at the Giro d'Italia after an entertaining finish on stage eight.

Bennett has finished in 15th on the summit finish of Montevergine di Mercogliano, coming home in the main group as rain pelted down.

The Kiwi climber remains one minute and 11 seconds down on overall leader Simon Yates, but fell one spot into 10th overall after Richard Carapaz rode away to take the stage.

Carapaz now sits in eighth after his well-timed attack which claimed Ecuador's first ever stage win on a Grand Tour. The leader of the young rider's classification attacked with 1.3 kilometres to go in the pouring rain, and got away from the bunch to win by seven seconds, and take the 10 bonus seconds on the line as well.

That jumped him ahead of Bennett, who much like the other general classification contenders, was perfectly happy to ride in the reduced bunch until the final sprint to the line.

The stage finished with the 17.1 kilometre climb of Montevergine di Mercogliano, but it wasn't the most testing of uphill finishes, with the last eight kilometres at a consistent and relatively simple gradient of five per cent.

It was not a climb to trouble the GC men, except for Chris Froome, who crashed in the wet conditions with five kilometres to go. As he made his way back into the peloton, he was struggling to handle his bike, and banged into a perturbed Bennett.

There was no harm done though, and the favourites continued on at a steady pace, happy to let Carapaz go. Once clear, the 24 year old zoomed by the last remnant of the breakaway - Bennett's teammate Koen Bouwman - and powered away to beat the bunch by seven seconds.

Davide Formolo finished in second, while Thibaut Pinot sprinted home in third to take four bonus seconds, and reduce his deficit to Yates to 41 seconds.

Yates comfortably crossed the line in fifth to retain the pink jersey, with Kiwi teammate Sam Bewley again putting in a solid shift, riding on the front for a large portion of the stage's flat section as the Mitchelton-Scott team safely contained the early breakaway.

There should be a greater shake-up on the general classification tomorrow on stage nine, where the majority of the final 45 kilometres are uphill, including a particularly gruelling last few kilometres.

It's a stage which should suit Bennett, and give him another chance to take back time as the Giro continues to heat up.

Niall Anderson is covering every stage of the Giro d'Italia live for the Herald. He chatted about the Giro on Radio Sport yesterday, if you so desire you can listen to part one starting at 10.00 here, and part two here.

Niall's Giro d'Italia wraps
Stage seven
Stage six
Stage five
Stage four
Stage three
Stage two
Stage one