Sam Bennett has a smile as wide as the Champs Elyseés itself after finishing his first Tour de France this afternoon. The Bora-Argon 18 man was over five hours down on Chris Froome but the manner in which he has battled through injury since his opening day crash has been nothing short of inspirational.
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett fulfilled a lifetime ambition today by sprinting down the Champs Elysées at the end of stage 21 of the Tour de France.
The 25 year-old Carrick man became just the 10th Irish rider in history to have that distinction and he fared superbly in the high-speed finale, taking ninth in the gallop for his best result of this Tour.
In fact, it’s his best ever Tour de France stage result and betters the 12th he got on stage 14 this year and 10th on stage seven last year.
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“I really wanted to get at least a top 10 and I managed that but looking back I’ve see some mistakes I’m still making and that’s frustrating but I tried everything,” he said about the final today.
“It’s been a hard Tour and I can feel it in the legs so I’ll take ninth.”
The sprint was won by German Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) who claimed his first win of this year’s race and 11th of his career.
He profited from a superb leadout once again though he did have to go early as Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) kicked earlier.
Greipel hurtled towards the line as world champion Peter Sagan (Katusha) screamed up on his right but the man known as the guerrilla just about hung on.
Kristoff managed to take third with Bennett right there in the frame as well.
Being the competitor he is he'll probably rue not finishing higher, particularly as Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) broke a pedal and flatted and was out of contention while Bryan Coquard (Direct Energié) punctured on the Paris circuit.
Still, Bennett was upbeat, as he has been throughout the race.
“It was definitely a step up from the last day,” he continued in reference to contesting the sprint on stage 14.
“On TV it looks flat and it looks smooth but it was so bumpy and so hard up the hill and my hand was bouncing off the bars and really hurting the finger.
“Eventually it just vibrated so much it got numb and I could keep going it was that numb, then the adrenaline kicked in and that was fun!”
It was a memorable day too for Dan Martin who broke the top 10 on GC for the first time in the race, the Etixx-QuickStep man finishing joint eighth alongside Louis Meintjes (Lampre-Merida).
“This was a Tour of firsts: first time I've targeted the general classification, first Grand Tour with Etixx – Quick-Step,” he said.
“It was a learning experience for both parties, but if there's a thing it showed me, is that I have room to improve and go for an even better result.”
We'll have much more in the coming days...
Stage 21: Chantilly to Paris (113km)
1 André GREIPEL, LOTTO SOUDAL, in 2:43:08
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2 Peter SAGAN, TINKOFF, at s/t
3 Alexander KRISTOFF, TEAM KATUSHA, at s/t
4 Edvald BOASSON HAGEN, DIMENSION DATA, at s/t
5 Michael MATTHEWS, OBE, at s/t
6 Jasper STUYVEN, TREK – SEGAFREDO, at s/t
7 Ramunas NAVARDAUSKAS, CDT, at s/t
8 Christophe LAPORTE, COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS, at s/t
9 Sam BENNETT, BORA-ARGON 18, at s/t
10 Reinardt JANSE VAN RENSBURG, DIMENSION DATA, at s/t
25 Dan MARTIN, ETIXX-QUICKSTEP, at s/t
General Classification
1 Christopher FROOME, TEAM SKY, in 86:21:40
2 Romain BARDET, AG2R LA MONDIALE, at 4:05
3 Nairo Alexander QUINTANA ROJAS, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 4:21
4 Adam YATES, OBE, at 4:42
5 Richie PORTE, BMC RACING TEAM, at 5:17
6 Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, MOVISTAR TEAM, at 6:16
7 Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, TEAM KATUSHA, at 6:58
8 Louis MEINTJES, LAMPRE – MERIDA, at s/t
9 Daniel MARTIN, ETIXX – QUICK STEP, at 7:04
10 Roman KREUZIGER, TINKOFF, at 7:11
175 Sam BENNETT, BORA ARGON 18, at 5:17:14
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