Sean Kelly used to worry about Sam Bennett not manhandling the opposition enough in the sprints, but that was a long time ago...
Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) cemented his reputation as one of the fastest and most robust sprinters of his generation with the manner of his victory at the Binck-Bank Tour today.
The opening stage in Belgium came down to a bunch sprint and Bennett had to robustly repel the advances of a number of riders who wanted to take his place at the back of the Jumbo-Visma lead out.
If you look at the video below closely you see Bennett shouldering a Wanty Gobert rider out to the right of shot.
And just seconds later one of the Bahrain Merida men comes at Bennett from the other side; the Irish rider shouldering him to the left of shot.
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Those two moves - perfectly legal in the robust world of pro sprinting - ensure Bennett remained behind the two Jumbo-Visma riders and also had clear road to come off their wheel to win.
This is a sprinting master class from Sam Bennett, who with his win today became the first Irish cyclist to win a WorldTour race as Irish champion.
On the finish line today Bennett beat Edward Theuns
(Trek-Segafredo) into 2nd place Tour de France stage winner Mike Teunissen
(Jumbo-Visma) in 3rd.
Sam Bennett well able for the battle
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