Sam Bennett has said despite his podium places, his form is not good at the moment and he hoped for much more.
Sam Bennett’s bid to grab another podium place or even his first victory of the season were scuppered earlier today when his finish efforts were disrupted by a crash next to him.
The Irishman was thankfully not among the fallers but he told stickybottle it effectively ruined his final push for the day on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under.
He added he wasn’t even able to help team mate Peter Sagan, who went on to finish 2nd behind stage 1 inner Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) in the bunch sprint.
“I was near the crash and then I couldn't get back to help in the lead-out,” said the Bora-Hansgrohe man.
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And while he took 2nd in the People’s Choice Classic on Sunday and was 3rd on the opening stage of the Tour Down Under on Tuesday, Bennett was not getting over-excited.
Caleb Ewan takes the stage win from Peter Sagan earlier today. Another Australian, Richie Porte still leads the race overall with three stages remaining.
Indeed, Carrick-on-Suir's Benett said he wasn’t going well at present.
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“I’m happy enough. It’s still early and the form isn't good so I hope there is more,” he said.
Today’s stage 3 took the Tour Down Under field 144km from Glenelg to Victor Harbour.
A four-man escape animated proceedings and was made up of Thomas de Gent (Lotto Soudal), Vegard Stake Laegen (UAE Abu Dhabi), Clement Chevrier (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Jeremy Masion (FDJ).
They combined well and pulled out a lead of almost five minutes, though they never really looked like making it all the way.
And with 25km remaining and just under two laps of the finishing circuit ahead, Laegen attacked the escape.
The gap between the bunch and the breakaway was under two minutes at that stage and soon the three men he had left were caught by the field.
Laegen was recaptured approaching the 5km to go marker and from there a bunch sprint was certain, the only upset being that crash that Bennett managed to steer clear of.
However, among those to hit the deck was 2nd placed overall Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Movistar).
But because the crash happened well inside the final 3km he lost no time overall and so trails leader Richie Porte (BMC) – who won Wednesday’s stage 2 – by 20 seconds.
Orica-Scott’s Esteban Chaves is 3rd, a further two seconds back, with Bennett’s team mate Jay McCarthy in 4th another two seconds adrift.
Tomorrow’s stage 4 takes the riders 149km from Norwood to Campbelltown and could be another one for the sprinters.
Stage 3: Glenelg - Victor Harbour (144km)
1 Caleb Ewan (Aus) Orica-Scott 3:24:45
2 Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
3 Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
4 Danny van Poppel (Ned) Team Sky
5 Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
6 Nikias Arndt (Ger) Team Sunweb
7 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
8 Lorrenzo Manzin (Fra) FDJ
9 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo
10 Baptiste Planckaert (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
79 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:12
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