Bennett pays big price for heroic effort through desert at Worlds

[wpbrad id=123]

Sam Bennett had a storming ride at the world championships today and when the race was at its most critical point he was there in the front group fighting for his place. Alas, the effort to stay there took a heavy toll on him and he would drop out of that selection and be swept up by the groups behind.

By Philip Cassidy

It wasn’t quite the present Sam Bennett wanted on his 26^th birthday but in the end the Irish team leader could have no complaints about the outcome in the World Championships road race in Doha today.

On a day Peter Sagan won back-to-back titles for Slovakia after a sensational finishing sprint to edge Mark Cavendish, Bennett was listed as a non-finisher along with teammates Ryan Mullen and Matt Brammeier.

Crosswinds, as Bennett said they would, decimated the peloton in the early stages of the race.

And though he made it into the front group on the road at a crucial stage, the effort to get there proved too much for him and he later lost contact.

The Carrick-on-Suir man also appeared to suffer injury to his hand or arm, which we will clarify later.

Ryan Mullen and Matt Brammeier stuck together but their group was pulled out of the race, needlessly so (Photo: Sean Rowe)

And such was the ferocity of the chasing group that he also dropped out of that and anyone not in those two groups was pulled off the course and listed as a non-finishers.

The other Irish riders in the race, Ryan Mullen and Matt Brammeier, were in the third group.

And though they battled manfully they were part of a large group of riders whose race was ended prematurely.

It was an heroic effort by Bennett to make the front group of some 30 riders.

He has proven himself in the toughest crosswinds time and again and in fact, some of his best wins and performances have come after surviving such impossible riding conditions.

When he made the split, caused by strong Belgian pulling, he was conspicuous by his presence at the front of the race with the second group over three minutes back.

Peter Sagan was simply too strong for the others on the slightly uphill finish and retained the title he won last year (Photo: Sean Rowe)

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT

But with almost 150 kilometres to ride at that point it was still a monumental task to stay in the front group.

And ultimately it was too much of an ask even for Bennett as he has been off the bike sick in recent weeks.

Just 21 riders stayed in that front group which came to the final as a unit; a late attack from Dutchman Tom Leezer getting caught in the final kilometre paving the way for the sprint that followed.

Cavendish had teammate Adam Blythe for assistance in the sprint but when they got their wires crossed it was the irrepressible Peter Sagan who came around the outside for one of the wins of his career.

However, while Cavendish was impeded a little in the sprint, he started it on Sagan's wheel and simply was not strong enough to get past him.

Belgian Tom Boonen showed his class at the age of 36 years by taking the bronze medal, making for a really classy podium of men who had all won the title before.

Lots more to follow, stay with us.