Remember Sean Kelly saying Sam Bennett needed to throw the elbow more in gallops? Well, the young sprinter is having no such problems these days, as this video testifies.
Here's a great bit of footage we've just spotted featuring Ireland's Sam Bennett fighting for the wheel on the sodden penultimate stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Monday.
He was eventually 8th in the dash to the line from a much reduced peloton on the 21okm leg from Rieti to Porto Sant Elpidio.
The stage was won by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo) but in the closing kilometres Bennett can be seen in the short clip below fighting for a good position for the fast approaching sprint.
Around eight riders from the front, Bennett barges an Astana rider several times and, it must be said, takes no nonsense from him.
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And in between bouncing Astana around on his left, the Irishman also guards his territory on his right when one of the MTN-Qhubeka riders threatens his place in the line.
Sagan taking stage 6 in Italy on Monday. Bennett was 8th but his fight for position reveals the lessons learned in recent years, not to mention his growing confidence at this level.
It's all a far cry from Sean Kelly's criticism of Bennett a few years ago when he told journalist Shane Stokes his Carrick protégé needed to toughen up.
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"For the big sprints, I think he was just lacking a bit of confidence," Kelly said in September 2013 just after Bennett had won a stage in the Tour of Britain.
"He needs to be a bit more aggressive. Last year in the worlds I feel that he should have been more aggressive in the sprint.
"He got bumped twice by others and he never made any reaction. He should have stuck an elbow out and given another shoulder back.
"If he had done that, he would have been in the top five or maybe on the podium."
Post by Mike Bennett.
Hat tip to Mike Bennett
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