Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) emerged best from a tough, and nervous finale, on Sunday's final stage at Tour de la Provence to take the victory in a sprint from the bunch, his second in two days.
Unlike his opening win of the season last Friday, when he kicked late after somehow finding space, his second win came as a result taking the initiative. He kicked early in the sprint and was on the front leading the charge when a crash occurred behind him.
Bennett was untroubled by the high-speed spill, looking like he was going to be all-comers even without some of the other fast men being frustrated by the incident.
And having struggled to recapture his form after his 2021 injury - compounded by health problems last summer - suddenly he's back to winning ways and has those all-important factors for sprinters; confidence and momentum.
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He took the win on Sunday after a strong late breakaway was brought back, with that pursuit adding to the difficulty of the flat 190.6km stage from Rognac to Arles.
"I thought it would be much easier," Bennett said after his win, ahead of Marijn van den Berg (EF Education - EasyPost) and Alexander Konijn (Nice Métropole Côte d'Azur) in 2nd and 3rd.
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"The breakaway was strong. They also tried to make progress in the GC, so we had to ride hard in the peloton. I think my guys did a great job controlling the race. After the last two days, today was a bit harder on the legs.
"But my team kept me in a great position. I tried to come from behind with speed, and it worked. I thought it was too early, but I could hold them off."
Mads Pedersen (Lidl Trek) was leading the race and only managed 9th on the stage, after seeing his sprint disrupted by the crash, caused with Pascal Ackermann (Israel Premier Tech) lost control.
However, Pedersen still wrapped up the overall victory and, after the stage, he said he believed he still had some improvements to make, but felt his form was going in the right direction.
"We ended up in the sprint we wanted," he said of Sunday's sprint. "We didn't get the result but we still got the GC, so all is good.
"I think it was Ackermann who crashed and when he went down, of course, you slam on the brakes, you don't want to go down yourself.
"That destroyed the sprint for me but I'm happy I didn't go down. I still have some work to do, I'm not at my best yet. There's still two months until Paris-Roubaix."
