Sam Bennett had to be content with 2nd place at Scheldeprijs today, when young Belgian sprinter Jasper Philipsen beat him to the finish line. It was a huge home win for the 23-year-old who is already being touted in Belgium as "the next Tom Boonen".
Philipsen has gone close to beating Bennett before; finishing runner-up to him on stage 4 of La Vuelta last year, before winning the very difficult 230km stage 15. Philipsen was also runner-up to Bennett on stage 2 of BinckBank Tour in 2019; his first season at WorldTour level.
And while nothing should detract from Philipsen's win today - which he took after a fantastic ride and a perfect team lead-out - the overhead footage (below) of the final sprint shows how Bennett's sprint was blocked, though not intentionally.
Let's say that again: it was not intentional.
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As Michael Mørkøv was doing the final part of the team lead-out for Bennett, whose Deceuninck-QuickStep team had five riders in the 30-man front group, Philipsen's Alpecin Fenix team came up fast around the outside.
Philipsen's final lead-out man, Jonas Rickaert, put in a great burst of speed to launch his man and then moved to his left, and over towards the Deceuninck-QuickStep riders.
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That movement - though it was not deliberate - meant Bennett's path for jumping off Mørkøv's wheel, was blocked a little. And when Bennett then tried to dart to his right and into open road for a clear run at the line, his team mate Mark Cavendish inadvertently blocked him a little.
Cavendish had been behind Bennett as the sprint started and it looked like he had to hang back for a moment to give Bennett enough space to latch onto Philipsen's wheel; something that impeded both Cavendish and Bennett.
Indeed, it would have been interesting to see how Cavendish would have done if he hadn't paused for a moment to let Bennett out. They both may have improved on their 2nd and 3rd places had they not come out the wrong side of the congestion in the sprint. However, with lots of riders moving around, sometimes that congestion can't be helped in a sprint.
Those two accidental obstacles for Sam Bennett - though they were only very fleeting - meant the Irishman had to momentarily pause twice as Philipsen was sprinting full speed to the line, though he did spend more time in the wind.
That said, Philipsen put in a brilliant kick off a fantastic lead-out and even when Bennett got a clear run at the time he made little inroads into the gap his young rival had opened up to become the worthy winner.
So while Philipsen absolutely deserved to win, the clip below shows the two very brief moments where Bennett's path was blocked. And even if those two incidents were both over in the blink of an eye; any forced pause at all this late in a race can be very significant.
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