Bennett: “It's a pity being so close but my speed is really good now”

Sam Bennett had one of his best ever sprints in the Criterium du Dauphiné this afternoon and though he’ll rue not winning the stage, his strength in the final and finishing kick augers well for the remainder of the week.

By Brian Canty

Sam Bennett came agonisingly close to claiming the biggest win of his life earlier today but had to settle for third on a chaotic opening road stage of the Criterium du Dauphiné.

The Tour de France warm-up race featured several of the world’s top sprinters and they went hell for leather for victory in Saint-Vulbas after the 186-kilometre journey from Cluses.

Bennett rode a near-perfect race and positioned himself right on the nose of the bunch as they hurtled in towards the finish at a blistering pace.

Unlike previous races this year where he’s had the benefit of a full leadout train, he surfed the wheels superbly today, weaving and bobbing his way towards the front as the kilometres ticked down.

It was a very messy final as Katusha, Cofidis and Giant-Alpecin all wrestled for control at the head of the bunch.

But Bennett was never too far away from the action and he can thank his erstwhile companion and ex-An Post Chain Reaction teammate Shane Archbold for drilling a few holes so he could squeeze through late on.

As both men took yesterday’s opening prologue rather easily they knew the pressure to deliver was on today and they took on the job of delivering a result with some style.

One mustn’t forget Bennett took a very heavy fall last week at the Belgium Tour so to be back in the thick of the action bumping and barging his way around deserves immense credit.

Bennett, right, comes home for 3rd place but will be very hopeful of going better and adding to his 2016 win tally very soon, possibly later this week (Photo: Sirotti)

He got right on the wheels of big favourites Nacer Bouhanni and Alexander Kristoff as they were trying to barge each other and had either fallen in their mini skirmish, Bennett would have been the next to go down.

But he kept his cool and just nudged in front of Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data), climbing up to fifth before launching his sprint.

Crucially, he went ahead of Bouhanni and that allowed the Frenchman lock onto Bennett’s wheel.

The Irishman went from further out than he usually would because of the tailwind.

And though he showed strength to stay out front as long as he did, his legs just buckled in the final metres and Bouhanni came around him for the win, with Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal) nicking second.

“You never feel entirely ready but I feel okay,” said Bennett before the stage today.

“It's hard when some of the guys have full lead out trains here and it's just going to me and Shane trying to do our thing.

“We'll try and get a good result in some place. Sometimes it helps that there are just two of us.

“We've had some trouble this year trying to get a full lead out going so having just the two guys it can work a bit better.”

“The team did a great job to position me well,” he said after.

“In the last 500 metres I decided to go into the wind and then I thought I’d just give it a go.

“In a tailwind sprint it is better to lead early than to get stuck behind somewhere but in the end it was just a little too early.

“With 50m to go I thought I got it, but then Bouhanni passed me.

“It is a pity to be so close and then still get overtaken but everyone could see that my speed is really good now,” he said.

The other Irishman in the race, Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) crossed the line in the same time as Bouhanni and Bennett, thus remaining fourth overall at 21 seconds.