The salt-encrusted jersey of Sam Bennett tells the tale of hard racing in soaring temperatures that have gone over 40 degrees in Australia at the Tour Down Under.
Irish cyclist Sam Bennett signs of recovery in Australia
Sam Bennett has experienced a subdued start to his 2018 season. The Bora-hansgrohe fastman is riding the Tour Down Under but has not featured in the final sprints.
However, he showed some signs of life today when contesting an intermediate gallop.
With a two-rider breakaway clear at the time, there was just a one second time bonus on offer at the 50km to go sprint point.
Bennett and his team mates were trying to lead out Jay McCarthy, who has a real chance in the general classification.
And when it became clear McCarthy was not going to take the one second bonus, Bennett decided he would go for it himself.
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Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott), who is 3rd overall, was also in the mix for the sprint. Bennett wanted to be sure to deny him the bonus and so he took it himself.
It was at least a sign that he is coming around a little after being hit will illness.
Before the pre-tour People’s Choice Criterium in Adelaide last Sunday it emerged Bennett had fallen ill.
He described the problem as a cold. But the Carrick-on-Suit cyclist said it had hit him hard.
He was drained when he tried to train and had done very little on the bike for almost a week.
Bennett rode the 50km crit and helped to set up team mate Peter Sagan to victory.
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However, in the long stages at the Tour Down Under his illness is clearly having an impact.
The three stages to date have all come down to sprints and would normally suit Bennett perfectly.
However, he has not contested any of the final dashes to the line. He lost 3:36 on the opening stage, 14:49 yesterday and 2:17 today.
He suffered a mechanical on the opening stage towards the end of the race.
The three wins have gone to Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) and Elia Viviani (Quick-Step), above.
Bennett won’t be concerned with the time loss to date as he is in Australia for stages rather than the general classification.
Sam Bennett sprint
But missing out on three chances to fight for victory represents an opportunity foregone.
There are still three stages remaining and hopefully his itermediate sprint effort today can be replicated at the end of Sunday's final stage.
The Irish cyclist also has Race Melbourne, which he won last year, and the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race to contest before leaving Australia.
The shortened 120km stage today from Glenelg to Victor Harbor was won by the aforementioned Viviani.
He saw off Phil Bauhaus (Team Sunweb) and Ewan to take the victory. Ewan leads overall from Viviani by 10 seconds.
Tomorrow’s stage is lumpier than the terrain so far; with a cat 1 climb late in the day.
But the big test comes on Saturday with the general classification looking set to be decided on the 151km stage to Willunga Hill.
Stage 3 highlights
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