Carrick sprinter Sam Bennett takes the congratulations of his team mates after his biggest career win at the Tour of Qatar against a truly world class field.
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett has taken the biggest win of his career to date with a stunning victory on the final stage of the Tour of Qatar today.
The Irishman was too quick for Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) as well as the rest of the world class field before a huge crowd at Doha Corniche.
While he was victorious on a number of occasions last year, his victory today ushers him into the top flight of world cycling.
It’s been a week of ups and downs for the Bora-Argon 18 man in what is his first major race of the 2015.
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Bennett takes the applause of the crowd after a fantastic performance to end the Tour of Qatar.
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He was fifth on the opening stage but since then has struggled to get in amongst the big hitters.
Luck worked against the Carrick sprinter this week and yesterday he was last man over the line and lost seven minutes after he got a puncture in the final kilometres.
But he put all that behind him today with an absolutely devastating kick in the final metres for his first win of 2015.
Overall victory went to Nikki Terpstra of Etixx-Quick Step with Maciej Bodnar (Saxo Tinkoff) second at six seconds and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) rounding out the podium a further five seconds back.
We'll have more later.
Brief results
1 Sam Bennett (Irl) Bora-Argon 18
2 Andrea Guardini (Ita) Astana
3 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis
4 Peter Sagan (Svk) Tinkoff-Saxo
5 Youcef Reguigui (Alg) MTN - Qhubeka
6 Adam Blythe (GBr) Orica-GreenEdge
7 Matteo Trentin (Ita) Etixx-QuickStep
8 Tom Boonen (Bel) Etixx-QuickStep
9 Jasper Stuyven (Bel) Trek Factory Racing
10 Jose Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar
Final General Classification
1 Nikki Terpstra of (Etixx-Quick Step)
2 Maciej Bodnar (Saxo Tinkoff) @6 secs
3 Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) @11 secs.
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