Sam Bennett has expressed
his satisfaction with how his new lead-out line-up is gelling despite not
looking at his best in the final sprint of UAE Tour stage 2 today, which was
won by Mark Cavendish (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl).
Ryan Mullen dragged the
Bora-hansgrohe train into contention as the finish neared. The Irish road race
and TT champion successfully held his position close to the front, with his
team mates on his wheel, as several rival teams took turns to take it up on the
front.
However, while Mullen
did a great job and Danny van Poppel then took it up as Bennett’s final
lead-out man, Bennett got a little boxed in and then looked like he lacked the
legs to make a big final push for the line.
Instead he sat up and
rolled over the finish line in 17th place, side-by-side with Van Poppel. With
Bennett having already taken 2nd on the opening stage, he was looking on the bright
side today with the team performance.
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"It was a
nervous day in the peloton due to the wind conditions. Because I'm not yet
at full fitness, I had to be careful here,” he said. “The guys were really
amazing. Ryan, Shane and Danny did an incredible job to set me up for the
finale, and they brought me into a good position.
“However, when it
came down to the last moment, I just wasn't able to launch my sprint as I had
hoped. But we're here to practice and we're already working very well in our
second race together, so it's only up from here."
Team directeur Rolf
Aldag said the team rode towards the anticipated bunch sprint and though they
couldn’t finish it off, he was happy with the effort.
"Our goal
was of course to ride for the sprint and gain some more practice here,
essentially to really find ourselves as a team. The final sprint was facing
into a headwind and was quite hectic,” he said.
“However, it
worked out quite well up to that point, with all the guys being together in the
finale. Everyone did their job, but ultimately, Sam just lacked that bit of
racing practice. There are still some chances for us in the sprints and I think
the team is working well together, which is very important to see."
