Sam Bennett is still hunting for a stage win four days into the Tour of Britain after coming up against a powerful lead-out man and sprinter combination in Wout van Aert and Olav Kooij of Jumbo Visma. Van Aert has ripped the legs off the other contenders in the lead-outs and Kooij has pulled the trigger to win on each of the four stages thus far.
Over at Bora-hansgrohe, the effort has looked more disjointed, though Bennett has appeared to sprint well at times. But his lead-out man, Danny van Poppel, has been featuring more significantly in the final push to the line than a lead-out man normally does.
That lack of cooperation, especially compared to the very united Jumbo Visma effort, is perhaps a product of the Bora-hansgrohe lead-out train, assembled at Bennett's behest two years ago, now lurching towards an inevitable break-up in a matter of weeks.
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Van Poppel and Ryan Mullen - both brought into the team when Bennett returned two years ago - are expected to stay with Bora-hangrohe beyond the expiry of their current contracts at year end. Meanwhile, Bennett is heavily tipped to join AG2R Citroën Team for the next two seasons.
Bennett was visibly annoyed a the end of Tuesday's stage 3, when Van Poppel very much looked like he was targeting his own result, and even appeared to get in the way of the Irishman as he was itching to launch for the finish line.
And at the end of yesterday's stage 4, while Van Poppel did not feature in the sprint, Bennett looked like a man who was simply not firing on all cylinders. He briefly seemed set to make a move up the inside, but did not move forward when the time came, despite being quite well placed as the sprint opened.
Bennett had to settle for 9th place in the sprint into Newark-on-Trent. The strength of Van Aert's lead-out made it impossible for anyone to gain ground in the final kilometre and Kooij again had the legs to seal the deal and win; his 12th victory of the 2023 campaign.
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However, Bora-hansgrohe's sports director, Jens Zemke, believes there is room for improvement, and insists Bennett and his team mates are still fully committed to trying for a stage victory before the race concludes.
“Of course, Jumbo-Visma is absolutely dominant here. Nevertheless, we had a good chance on three of the four stages so far,” he said, adding he was convinced his team could come good with four stages remaining, including a slightly hiller weekend of racing.
“We have meetings every day and try to change the tactics a bit. We hope that this will translate into a stage win in the coming days and that we can surprise Jumbo-Visma. We'll definitely keep trying," he said. “With Nils Politt, we have a very strong rider who is in good shape. He will be our captain for the classification."
While Bennett lost time on stage 3, and so is out of contention in the general classification, Ireland's Rory Townsend (Bolton Equities Black Spoke) remains 10th overall, equal on time with race leader Kooij. Indeed, as the first four stages have come down to bunch sprints, with no bonus seconds on offer, some 55 riders are on the same time as Kooij.
