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Sam Bennett was visited by untimely stomach upset after riding a brilliant race at Gent-Wevelgem; the Irishman seen on TV throwing up in the closing stages and then losing his place upfront shortly after.
The Irishman was the only Deceuninck-QuickStep rider in the large front group that went clear with over 160km to go as the race was split to pieces on the cobbles, climbs and, most significantly, crosswinds.
And when Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma) and some of the others up in the front group pressed hard on the penultimate passage of the Kemmelberg nine riders pulled clear. Sam Bennett, with a great performance, was among that nine-man group.
As well as the Irishman and eventual winner Van Aert in that nine-man group were: Danny van Poppel (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Nathan Van Hooydonck (Jumbo-Visma), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos), Matteo Trentin (UAE Team Emirates) and Stefan Küng (Groupama-FDJ).
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They stayed together on the final passage of the Kemmelberg, with the race split to pieces by that stage and a chase group just under one minute back. However, with about 34km to go to the finish Bennett suffered his bout of throwing up.
He got back into the group, but from that moment he didn't look as comfortable as he had been - unsurprisingly. And when Van Aert deliberately let his team mate Van Hooydonck's wheel go with about 16km to go, the other riders had to jump after the Dutch rider.
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That little move applied significant pressure in the group, which lined out in the cross wind. And at the back of the line gaps opened to Bennett, Matthews and Van Poppel.
While Matthews was just about able to get across to the group again and survive, there was no way back for Bennett and Van Poppel and the nine leaders became seven.
That's the way it stayed to the finish, despite some attacks on the run in, with Van Aert winning the sprint for victory from sprinter Nizzolo and classics man Trentin.
While Colbrelli, like Nizzolo, is also a man who has won many bunch sprints, he had to be content with 4th. Matthews was 5th, Küng 6th and Van Hooydonck was 7th after putting in a great team ride with Van Aert in the breakaway.
Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers) was the next man to finish, in 8th place at 52 seconds, having forged clear of the chasing group with Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), who was 9th two seconds later.
Belgian rider Gianni Vermeersch (Alpecin-Fenix) was 10th, winning the sprint from the chasing group that finished 1:25 down. Bennett eventually finished 55th, some 4:40 down.
While it was a somewhat disappointing end to an otherwise brilliant ride by Bennett, he rode out of his skin for much of the race, just days after taking his first one-day WorldTour win, and his development continues unabated.
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