Sam Bennett has
taken the points jersey at La Vuelta but despite getting his hands on the green
jersey he has expressed serious concern about how he is feeling.
Unusually, he
said he could not get the position right on his bike and because of that he
felt very different compared to when he won three stages at BinckBank Tour the
week before last.
Today on stage 4
into El Puig he just failed to get past Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
on the finish line and had to settle for 2nd place.
Bennett’s sprint was undermined by losing position in the last kilometre when he went the long way around a roundabout.
However, while it
looked like he had simply given himself too much ground to make up and so
missed a second win in two days, he suggested he has enduring other problems.
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“I felt awful, I
just couldn’t get out in time,” he said of his condition during the stage and
his final sprint.
“Something has
changed since… my position (on the bike) since BinckBank; I just can’t get the
position right on the bike, I don’t know.”
He added he was
experiencing pains in the back of his legs and when he tweaked his position he
had pains in the front of his legs.
Despite winning yesterday’s stage and coming 2nd today, he expressed concern both days about how badly he felt during the stages.
Furthermore,
today he said if he continued to feel as badly as he has done already on the
hills, he was worried he may not finish the race.
He further noted
when sprints were as close as the stage 4 final gallop proved today, he always
took victory in the past but failed to do the same today.
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“I always get it
in the lunge,” he said, adding he would try again “if there comes another
opportunity, it looks like a hard tour”.
Bennett praised
his team mates, saying the finale of the stage was very hard and the
Bora-hansgrohe riders had done everything to guarantee a sprint and help him.
He also said he
encountered some unexpected obstacles on the road, before once again returning
to his physical condition and bike position and expressing concern.
“I just couldn’t
get the positioning,” he said of the run in to the sprint.
“I went the wrong
side of a roundabout; in the (route) book I thought they said it was blocked on
one side.
“But I went on
the wrong side and lost more positions and I had to use a lot of energy in the
final and I couldn’t get out in time.
“And when I did
it was too close to the line. I did everything I could but this one hurts a
lot,” he said of just failing to take a second win in two days.
“Really I’m
delighted to wear this jersey,” he said gesturing to the green points jersey,
as compatriot Nicolas Roche wears the race leader’s red jersey.
“But I really
wanted the victory today,” he added, saying while he wanted to retain it, that
situation was out of his control.
“We go to the
mountains now and that’s something I can’t control. I can’t compete with the
other guys in the mountains.
“I’ll do what I
can do in the sprints and in the mountains then… just survive and see what
happens.”
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