Sam Bennett has said he was delighted to win the first one-day WorldTour race of his career as he had been trying to achieve that goal for years.
While Bennett now has little to prove, though he has more
races to win, most of his victories have come in the sprints in stage races.
Though he has ten Grand Tour stage wins under his belt –
five at the Giro, three at the Vuelta and two at the Tour – and a Tour de
France green jersey, he had referenced the lack of a one-day WorldTour win
several times in interviews in recent years.
And his relief and delight at having ticked that box
after winning Oxyclean Classic Brugge-De Panne yesterday was clear to see.
“It's super important to get this win. Being in a Belgian team with Belgian sponsors, we want to perform on home soil,” he said after the 204km race.
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“For myself, personally, it's my first one-day WorldTour
race - something I've been chasing for many years and I'm happy to get it here
today."
And while Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin Fenix) went early in the gallop, Bennett timed his run to perfection.
The 30-year-old from Carrick-on-Suir stayed behind his final Deceuninck-QuickStep lead out man, Michael Mørkøv, for as long as possible into the headwind before pouncing, though Philipsen went first.
"He jumped early but I could feel there was a bit of
a headwind so I decided to wait longer and then go," Bennett said. "I
don't focus on anybody else around me, I was just doing my own sprint.
"I was a little bit nervous, there was too many
yellow poles and brick walls and footsteps coming up for a bunch sprint like
that.
“It's an important race and everyone wants to be there.
You have a lot of riders under pressure and we all want to get a result; you
don't need that in the final. It was a good day and a great race today."
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