By Shane Stokes
Sam Bennett’s Bora-hansgrohe team has confirmed that the Irishman has no lingering injuries from his crash at Milan San Remo on Saturday, and that his racing programme will continue as planned.
He will line out in the Classic Brugge-De Panne WorldTour race on Wednesday and is also scheduled to contest Gent Wevelgem on Sunday.
Bennett was one of four riders who crashed because of poorly-positioned road furniture with approximately 34 kilometres remaining in Saturday’s prestigious Classic. He got his foot to the ground and rolled, landing on his back, but was able to remount afterwards and ride to the team bus.
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On Saturday his team said that time would tell if the impact would affect his racing schedule. “Nobody can say now if this affects De Panne,” a team spokesman said then. “He has some back pain but seems to be okay. But we have to see how he feels tomorrow.”
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Things have gone to plan since then and he will line out in the Classic Brugge-De Panne as a result. He won the race two years ago, beating Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin-Fenix) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-hansgrohe) in a bunch gallop to the line.
Both of those riders are expected to line out on Wednesday. There is a star-studding sprinting lineup, with Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal Quick Step), Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny), Sam Welsford (Team DSM), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Mark Cavendish also expected to ride.
Whomever wins that clash of the sprinters will mark themselves out as one of the fastest in the peloton, and also receive a huge psychological boost heading towards Gent Wevelgem and the rest of the spring season.
