Sam Bennett keen to “stay focused” despite having Tour yellow in team

Sam Bennett said it was great having the yellow jersey in the team, but insisted he still had to stay focused. His task is to take a stage win and he went very close indeed today on stage 3

Sam Bennett has said while it was great to have the Tour de France yellow jersey in his Deceuninck-QuickStep, on the shoulders of Julian Alaphilippe, he was determined to stay focused.

The 29-year-old Carrick-on-Suir man is riding the Tour of
the first time since 2016 and is still looking for his first victory on the
race.

Bennett has already won three Giro stages, all coming in
the 2018 edition, and took two stages of La Vuelta last season.

And while he has twice ridden the Tour before, he is now
a completely different rider, which much bigger stature in the bunch, than his
last outing in 2016.

Back then his best placing was 9th, on the final stage, and already on this Tour he has taken 4th on the opening stage and 2nd today.

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Bennett's team was on the front all day defending the yellow jersey but the Irish rider was speared team duties and was able to aim for victory in the final sprint, though he just came up short this time

Normally a rider who takes a few days to really get going
in a stage race, the Irishman’s trajectory is on the right path, though he was
clearly very disappointed to be so narrowly beaten today on stage 3.

In the final dash to the line Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal)
came from a long way back to finish extremely quickly and pass Bennett on the
line for his fourth career win on the Tour.

Bennett was leading in the sprint but, into the headwind
in Sisteron, it was Ewan who got his tactics and his timing spot on.

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At the finish Bennett gave a brief interview, making little
effort to hide his disappointment at having come so close on a day when his
team retained the yellow jersey with ease.

"It's always guys who are looking for my wheel and
can't go first, so I just gave the guys another lead out," Bennett said of
his sprint, using a self-deprecating tone.

“It was a headwind and it was easy for somebody to come off the wheel, so….,” he added of going earlier than the eventual winner Ewan only to be pipped on the line.

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan came through the front of the bunch like a bullet and won it well. However, Sam Bennett was 2nd and he's getting closer to that win that will surely come before the race is over.

Asked about how his legs were, he said: “They’re OK. They
weren’t the best, but it’s enough.”

He added there was not much he would have done differently
about the sprint, saying “I think it was just a matter of luck”.

When asked what it was like riding today with the yellow
jersey in the team, he said: “Yeah, it was nice, but you have to stay focused.”

And the man in yellow, and Bennett’s team mate, Alaphilippe
said he was disappointed for the Irishman that he didn’t win.

“Sam Bennett really wanted to win, we are a little bit
disappointed that he didn’t,” the French rider explained after the stage.

“But we have fulfilled our goal which is to (end the
stage with) a bunch sprint finish after we controlled the race the whole day.”

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