Sam Bennett, just behind his two team mates in blue, took an impressive 5th place on stage 4 of the Tour of Qatar (UCI 2.HC) today; seen here in the young riders’ classification leader's white jersey on Monday's stage 2.
By Gerard Cromwell
Sam Bennett continued his impressive debut in the paid ranks today when he finished fifth on stage four of the Tour of Qatar in Mesaieed.
On another day of gusting desert winds, which saw the stage completed at an incredible average speed of 56kph, the Carrick-On-Suir native positioned himself well to avoid numerous splits during the stage and get himself into the front portion of the peloton in the final kilometres.
Former world champion Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) sprinted home at the head of affairs to take his second stage win of this year’s race, beating Andre Greipel of Lotto Belisol despite the powerful German getting the jump on him as the sprint opened up.
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Barry Markus of Belkin was third in the gallop to the line, with NetApp Endura’s Bennett an impressive fifth just behind Aidis Kroupis of Orica GreenEdge.
Boonen’s teammate Niki Terpstra retained his overall race lead but Boonen has closed the gap to just 17 seconds , with compatriot Jurgen Roelandts of Lotto Belisol drifting to third overall at 20 seconds.
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Having cracked the top five in his first stage race as a professional, Bennett will be hoping to have another go to get onto the podium in the final two stages
He claimed 14th place on Sunday’s opening stage and crucially took a 1 second time bonus at an intermediate sprint, That have him the lead in the young riders classification at the end of the stage not to mention a trip to the podium in what was his first race with new team NetApp-Endura.
He then missed some splits on Tuesday, losing time and his classification jersey. Yesterday on the time trial stage 3, Bennett lost 1:40 in the 10.9km test where he was clearly content to have an easier day in anticipation of going for stage placings in the sprints in the days to come.
We’ll have more later.
Feb 9th to 14th: Tour of Qatar (UCI 2.HC)
Feb 12th, Stage 4: Dukhan - Mesaieed 135km
| 1 | Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team | 2:22:34 |
| 2 | André Greipel (Ger) Lotto Belisol | |
| 3 | Barry Markus (Ned) Belkin Pro Cycling Team | |
| 4 | Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica Greenedge | |
| 5 | Sam Bennett (Irl) Team NetApp-Endura | |
| 6 | Jacopo Guarnieri (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
| 7 | Arnaud Demare (Fra) FDJ.fr | |
| 8 | Matteo Pelucchi (Ita) IAM Cycling | |
| 9 | Michael Van Staeyen (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise | |
| 10 | Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Team Sky |
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