Sam Bennett romps home on the opening stage of the Criterium International to take his first win of the year and the first yellow jersey of the race.
Irish sprinter Sam Bennett has bagged his first victory of the season, taking the gallop that decided Saturday morning’s fast and furious short opening stage of the Criterium International in France.
And because the race is a three-stage two-day event, Bennett also picked up the yellow jersey for his troubles.
The race is held around Porto Vecchio in south Corsica and it was into that town this morning after just 90km that Bennett blasted up the slightly rising finishing straight to take what was a very clear win.
But it very nearly wasn’t to be as a breakaway went clear and looked like they would make it all the way, only to be caught in sight of the finish line.
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And in the charge to the line Bennett bested Rudy Barbier (Roubaix Lille Métropole) to the win, with Romain Feillu (HP BTP - Auber93) rounding out the podium in a race featuring several WorldTour teams.
The stage was only 90km because the riders have a 7km time trial this afternoon, with the event finishing tomorrow when the riders face a 171km road race.
The breakaway went away early today and very soon had a gap of 1½ minutes.
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In that move were Lilian Calmejane (Direct Énergie), Pierre Latour (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Jérémy Leveau (Roubaix Lille Métropole).
While Bennett’s Bora-Argon 18 team worked very hard to ensure the breakaway did not get too far up the road, the escape doggedly held on and with 1km remaining still had 10 seconds.
But the speed of the charging bunch behind coupled with a downhill swoop to the finish before it kicked up slightly all counted against the escapees.
And the bunch reabsorbed them just in time for the sprinters to have their day, with Bennett clearly the quickest.
March 26th & 27th: Criterium International
Stage 1: Porto-Vecchio - Porto-Vecchio (90.5km)
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 2:03:15
2 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Roubaix Metropole Lille
3 Romain Feillu (Fra) HP BTP - Auber 93
4 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Armee De Terre
5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
6 Jimmy Raibaud (Fra) Armee De Terre
7 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale
8 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Stölting Service Group
9 Giraud Benjamin (Fra) Delko Marseille Provence Ktm
10 Armindo Fonseca (Fra) Fortuneo - Vital Concept
General Classification
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18 2:03:09
2 Rudy Barbier (Fra) Roubaix Metropole Lille 0:00:02
3 Lilian Calmejane (Fra) Direct Energie 0:00:03
4 Romain Feillu (Fra) HP BTP - Auber 93 0:00:04
5 Pierre-Roger Latour (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale 0:00:05
6 Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Armee De Terre 0:00:06
7 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Ag2r La Mondiale
8 Jimmy Raibaud (Fra) Armee De Terre
9 Ramunas Navardauskas (Ltu) Cannondale
10 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Stölting Service Group
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