Philip Deignan is riding very well in what is his first race of the season. The Donegal man is 25th overall at just over 4 minutes after limiting his losses in today’s leg-breaker of a stage to Green Mountain.
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett continues to battle through illness, punishing gradients and baking temperatures at the Tour of Oman (2.HC).
The Bora - Argon 18 man crossed the line over 23 minutes down on stage winner Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) today in what was the Queen stage of the race.
It was always on the cards for the Irishman today who confessed to being below par yesterday on a stage that looked very good for him on paper.
Yesterday, the Irishman had been his Bora-Argon 18 team’s protected rider on the flat 158-kilometre stage that started and finished in Al Mussanah Sports City.
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But he became boxed-in in the closing kilometres and ended up the wrong side of a split, losing 14 seconds to stage winner Alexander Kristoff (Katusha).
“Yesterday I put myself in a bad position and I paid the price for it,” he told stickybottle.
“But to be honest, I'm not feeling too good. All I have in me at the moment is a sprint.”
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Bennett has had a rough ride the last few days, but such is the life of a sprinter. He seems in great form and should do a lot of damage when he gets a sniff of the finish line.
Today, Bennett was dropped early on and struggled on to the finish.
But if he can get to Sunday’s final stage he could have recovered enough by then to contest what is most likely going to be a bunch sprint.
Meanwhile, Philip Deignan fared much better yesterday and today and he now lies 25th overall at 4:02.
This afternoon, while riding in support of teammates Wout Poels and Leopold Konig, he limited his losses to just over two and a half minutes on the steep pull up to the summit of Green Mountain.
Valls was a surprising winner, particularly as he managed to shrug off the challenge Tejay van Garderen (BMC) in the final 100 metres and move into the overall race lead.
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) was third ahead of Polis star Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo).
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