Sam Bennett in yellow and with the iconic Le Credit Lyonnais yellow lion after winning the stage and taking the race lead at Critérium International.
Having collected his first iconic yellow jersey and yellow lion from an ASO-owned race, Sam Bennett has expressed his delight at what was also his first win of the year.
The Carrick-on-Suir man stormed in at the head of the pack on the opening stage of the Critérium International in Porto-Vecchio, Corsica, on Saturday morning.
And because the race is owned by ASO – the same group that runs the Tour de France – the yellow jerseys are similar and the holder gets what must be the most iconic soft toy in pro sport; the yellow 'Le Credit Lyonnais' lion.
“We had a really good meeting yesterday and everybody knew exactly what to do,” Bennett said of what was a fantastic team performance.
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His Bora-Argon 18 team mates were instrumental in pulling the early breakaway back after it had broken clear 15km into the 90km stage and built a maximum gap of 1:40.
Bennett storms in to beat Rudy Barbier and Romain Feillu for his first win of the season.
The breakaway still had 10 seconds with 1km to go but were pulled back inside the last 500 metres when Bennett stepped up to finish the job.
“The guys were committed 100 per and everyone did a tremendous job,” the Irishman added.
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“There was a crash with 15k to go and I was at the back of the peloton afterwards, but the team stayed together and brought me back up without panic.
“In the last little decent we made our move and hit the front, after the last corner I still had three guys to lead-out.
“I launched my sprint pretty early with 250m to go slightly uphill, but I felt I had to make my move because the whole team prepared everything so well.
“I felt that I opened a little gap and I could hold it to the line. It is brilliant to now have the first win under the belt. This is a reward for everyone in the team.”
Giddy Up: Bennett on the top spot with the yellow lion - they don't give those toys to just anyone.
Bennett now faces an afternoon 7km TT during which he will wear the yellow jersey, with a 171km road stage concluding the event tomorrow.
The Irishman’s sports director at Bora-Argon 18, Christian Pömer said the whole team had helped fashion the win, with Bennett finishing off the job.
“We knew that we cannot start to lead-out too early, because there was a little decent in the last kilometre and it is very easy to overtake there out of the slipstream,” he said.
“Our goal was to have three guys with Sam after the last corner, and that worked our perfectly.
“Sam was in a perfect position and took a confident win in the end. This win is a real team victory. All riders did their job 100 per cent perfect.
“But it is also a reward for the mechanics, physios... who all worked very hard the last weeks.”
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