Sam Bennett has said while he’d love to ride the World Championships next week, a strong ride in the Tour of Britain is foremost in his thoughts this week.
By Gerard Cromwell
Sam Bennett continued his good run of form yesterday when he finished second behind Milan-San-Remo winner Gerald Ciolek on stage two of the Tour of Britain in Kendal.
On a windswept, rain lashed day when compatriots Sean Downey and Dan Martin both escaped the clutches of the peloton for a brief period mid-stage, Thomas Lokvist of IAM Cycling, who had gone clear with 8km to go, was the only rider dangling a handful of seconds ahead of the peloton as they approached the final kilometre.
Perfectly positioned by his An Post Chainreaction teammates, Bennett jumped clear of the peloton, which included British duo Mark Cavendish and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, on the uphill finish in Kendal and opened a decent gap before finally being caught metres from the line by the German stage winner.
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“Mark (McNally) and Nikolas (Vereecken) did a great job getting me into a good position and we were one, two, three coming into the last corner, which was perfect,” said Bennett afterwards.
“The team couldn’t have done a better job today. Maybe I went a bit early but I didn’t know the finish was that steep or that long. I didn’t even know that I had a gap. I was going as hard as I could and nobody was coming around me."
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"Eventually, I saw that I had a bit of a gap but when Ciolek got up to me, he kicked again and I just didn’t have another kick in me. Obviously, I’d have loved to win the stage but I can’t be too disappointed. I came with the ambition of trying to get a podium place, so it’s a good start.”
It’s been a good start for Bennett’s An Post Chainreaction team too, with Kiwi rider Aaron Gate leading the intermediate sprint competition after stage one and Banbridge rider Sean Downey moving into second overall in the King of the Mountains competition after a mid-stage breakaway yesterday.
“We start every stage with the aim of having one of us in the break and Sean was the one today, which was probably no harm because he got to keep warm on the stage,” said Bennett.
“Trying to keep warm was the hardest thing today and trying to get my hands to work to get some food into me was almost impossible. I’m wearing way more clothes here than I did in the early season races in Belgium. It was so cold today, freezing."
"Coming into the finale, there were a few small climbs which helped warm me up and get me going. I didn’t really realise I could be competitive on a finish like that though. I always thought I could only be good on a fast finish but I surprised myself.”
Bennett’s recent run of good form in Belgium had seen him go into this year’s Tour of Britain with ambitions of snatching a podium placing, or even a much coveted stage win, from under the noses of the bigger WorldTour teams and despite crashing heavily on day one, the Carrick-On-Suir native bounced back to do just that yesterday.
“I was just getting around a crash on a left hander with 8km to go, when they slid across the road and took me out,” he said of his opening stage confrontation with the tarmac.
“I went to get back up but I’d banged my knee really hard and it swelled up like a balloon. It took me five minutes just to get the feeling back in it. I was forcing the pedals but there was nothing happening so I lost a lot of time. Hopefully, I’ve used up all my bad luck now."
"If I can get into the right place at the right time for a bunch sprint, I’d like to think I could get on the podium again. It’s very difficult at this level but I’m definitely going to go for it and maybe, with a bit of luck, I could get the stage win.”
One of three riders in contention for the last spot alongside Nicolas Roche, Dan Martin and Philip Deignan on the four man Irish team that will tackle the world road race championships in Italy in two weeks time, Bennett hopes yesterday’s performance will keep him in the mind of the Irish selectors.
“I’m just focusing on one race at a time but obviously I’d love to do the world championships and do anything I can for Ireland. I think I could do a good job there."
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