Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has abandoned the Tour de Pologne after suffering crash injuries when he came down at high speed on the opening stage.
Though his teammate, Paul Lapeira, is leading the race, Bennett suffered extensive road rash to his back and left side when he crashed. Despite battling on since then, he abandoned during yesterday's stage 4.
His withdrawal from the race is a set-back, especially as it was his first event since he finished the Giro d'Italia just over two months ago. Bennett should have emerged from the seven-stage World Tour race in Poland with good quality mileage in the legs that would have set him up for the rest of the season.
Instead, he has gone home early and must focus on recovering before he gets back into the peloton again. One upside is that there has been no mention of any broken bones. However, his road rash was very extensive after what was a very nasty fall, with the Irishman saying he was feeling the impact of it as he raced on.
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"Feeling the effects of the crash on stage 1 but riding with a great group of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale lads. The leader’s jersey on Paul Lapeira is all the morale we need," he said after stage 3.
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And though he came down hard in the final of stage 1, with other riders crashing on top of him, Bennett said he felt fortunate not to have come away with worse injuries. However, photographs of him finishing the stage showed his jersey had been ripped to pieces, with his deep road rash visible through his torn kit.
That stage 1 crash denied him the chance of competing in what always looked like the only certain opportunity for the pure sprinters. Though sprints all decided stages 3 and 4, they were from reduced bunches.
Bennett's withdrawal from the race also comes at a time when his team is riding high, not only winning a stage with Lapeira in Poland, but also defending his race lead there.
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale also won the stages yesterday at Vuelta a Burgos (2.Pro) with Léo Bisiaux, and at Tour de l'Ain (2.1), with Nicolas Prodhomme; those two riders also leading those events.
Bennett already has four wins to his name this season - two stages at Tour de la Provence (2.1) in February and two more at Région Pays de la Loire Tour (2.1) in April. However, he will want to win again soon to kickstart the second half of his season, especially as his first race back in over two months has ended with his premature exit.
