Bennett (leading) was fourth in Belgium yesterday
Sam Bennett has enjoyed another good result in Belgium, finishing fourth in the Herselt Kermesse in the north of the country yesterday, Saturday.
The An Post-Sean Kelly rider was part of a group sprinting for first after the race split a number of times.
“It was a good race, very windy and lots of sharp corners,” Bennett told stickybottle.
“It was lined out for most of it. The bunch split up pretty quickly and I was with about 20 or 30guys. It came back together for a lap at around 70km but then a group of 30 got away again.”
“In the last third of the race I missed two dangerous moves which I had to ride across to solo, it took a lot out of me.”
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Bennett added while those efforts to bridge across to the groups zapped him of some power, he managed to take fourth in the uphill sprint at the finish.
The race was won by Shane Archbold of New Zealand, with his fellow countryman Aaron Gate in third. Both riders rode the An Post Ras last year and have both been selected to represent New Zealand at the London Olympics.
Archbold, a former silver medallist at the World Track Championships, won the points jersey in the Ras while Gate took the U23 classification.
Bennett has been in good form recently, narrowly missing out on a stage win in the An Post Ras last month when he was 2nd and 3rd on stages. He has not been named on the Irish Olympic team but is first reserve.
Herselt Kermesse 117.8km
1 ARCHBOLD Shane (CYCLING TIMARUELITE) 2:43:15
2 VAN HOOVELS Kevin (VERSLUYS TEAMUMTBEL)
3 GATE Aaron NZ (AUCKLAND CENTRAL CYCLING CLUB ELITE)
4 BENNETT Sam (AN POST-SEAN KELLY)
5 CORDEEL PieteR (BIANCHI-LOTTO)
6 JANSSENS Jimmy (LOTTO BELISOL U23)
7 HUYBRECHTS Leopold (VLAAMS-BRABANTSE AFDELINGELITE)
8 GOOS Frederik (UNITED CYCLING TEAM SINT TRUIDENELITE)
10 LINTEN Tom (DE TOEKOMSTVRIENDEN BAALELITE) all same time
(There 59 finishers and 82 rides classed as DNF
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