Sam Bennett has ended Paris-Nice with another strong ride on a climbing stage; the Irishman surviving in the rapidly reducing peloton until just over 10km to go.
After his victory on stage 5 - to add to his stage win on the opening day of the race last weekend - Bennett said the final three stages would be strength and conditioning training for him ahead of Milan-Sanremo.
And since he uttered those words on Thursday evening, the 30-year-old has certainly put himself through the wringer in a bid to get the kind of climbing form he will need to get over the Poggio next weekend.
He needs to not only get up that climb, but to get over it as fresh as he possibly can in order that his sprint is still in his legs if he gets a run at the finish line sprinting for victory on Via Roma.
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On Friday at Paris-Nice, when the uphill finish was won by Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma), Bennett was in the front group and rode himself to a standstill to stay there for as long as possible; getting to within about 600 metres of the finish line.
Yesterday, on the penultimate stage of the race, Bennett was especially impressive in making the stage-long breakaway when it went clear on the first climb.
He also did a lot to work up the road and took the intermediate sprints and even some climbing points before finally losing his place in the breakaway as it started the final climb.
Today, Bennett's ride was lower key but it was almost as impressive; riding very strongly despite a very hard day up the road yesterday. The pace today was frenetic, with three laps off a circuit to complete, including a cat 2 climb on a course that was up and down all day.
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When race leader Primoz Roglic crashed on the descent coming off the climb for the second time, the race was already on and the pace just kept getting faster from that point.
However, Bennett stayed in the main group, though it continued to jettison riders as it tried to catch the early breakaway and as teams like Cofidis, Bora-hansgrohe, Ineos Grenadiers and Astana all rode on the front.
It was only when the road kicked up and the attacks started off the front - and as Astana was riding hard - that the front group was cut in about half, with Bennett finally becoming detached from it.
However, he continued to ride to the finish and at the line was just 1:38 down on stage winner Magnus Cort (EF Education-Nippo).
Kort took the victory in a sprint from the lead group containing the GC favourites - apart from Roglic - and after the breakaway men had all been swept up.
There were 21 riders in that group, plus a handful of men who let go at the last and trailed in just off the back of the group. Bennett then finished in the second group on the road, containing just 12 riders in all. He was 38th and over 1½ minutes up on Roglic, who lost the yellow jersey to Max Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe).
Bennett may have missed out on the green jersey this week, to Roglic, but having won two stages, held yellow and green and climbed so well, the absence of the points jersey won't trouble him.
While the Carrick-on-Suir man's result and performance today were largely anonymous, he is clearly climbing - and sprinting - much better than any of the other fast men in the field.
And if he can maintain that condition, and get a good rest, he will go to the line at Milan-Sanremo with the best chance of an Irish win in the race since Sean Kelly's second career victory in the Italian monument in 1992.
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