Bennett takes a four-second lead over France's Arnaud Demare of Groupama-FDJ, who came a close second, with seven more stages to go.

In the sprint, Denmark's Mads Pedersen of Trek-Segafredo, Belgium's Jasper Philipsen of Alpecin-Fenix, France's Bryan Coquard of B&B Hotels p/b KTM and Germany's Pascal Ackermann of Bora-Hansgrohe filed in between the Irishman to complete the top six in the classification.

Australia's Michael Matthews is in third in the overall standings after securing time bonuses today.

"The guys did a fantastic job again," said Bennett, according to CyclingNews. 

"We were a little blocked in the last 15 kilometres. 

"The nature of the sprint here, with the straight roads, was chaotic and then the narrowing in the last 500 metres made it very, very tricky, but we planned to get me into position. 

"The boys delivered me on a wheel rather than doing a full-lead out to the last 200 or 150m. 

"They put me on the wheel with 1km to go."

Slovenian Tour de France winner Primož Roglič of Jumbo-Visma and Britain's Giro d'Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart of Ineos Grenadiers were safely part of the pack just 10 seconds behind Bennett in the general classification, who will benefit from other stages later in the race series.

Tomorrow is a flatter stage from Oinville-Sur-Montcient to Amilly over 188km.