Ireland’s Sam Bennett took a fantastic win in Belgium yesterday, Thursday, in the pro kermesse – or circuit race – in Kortemark.
The An Post-Chainreaction rider from Carrick-on-Suir made it into a key split when 29 men went clear from the massive bunch.
When that escape split, the 22-year-old was again strong enough to make the smaller group that went off the front, eventually arriving at the finish in a group of four sprinting for the win.
He told stickybottle he left it very late and was gaining rapidly in his breakaway companions as the line approached.
While he may have won the race on his own steam, one of the Belgian riders he was with Stijn Steels (Cerlan-Euphony) thought he had the race won and was just putting his hands up in a victory celebration when Bennett nipped in and relieved the unfortunate Steels of the win.
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The sprint was captured in a series of photos by husband and wife team Lydia Van de Meerssche and Jozef Cooreman, which we’ve put together for you here.
The sprint for victory in full flight as the four leaders have built a gap on the remains of the large escape group, still visible in the distance down the home straight.
With the line just inches away, the rider on the left - Brian Van Goethem of the Metec team - has resigned himself to third place. In the centre Stijn Steels thinks he has it won and goes to put his hands up in celebration but then glimpses Ireland's Bennett on his left and can be seen in this photo put his hands back towards his bars and realising he's embarassed himself and lost the race. The fourth man in the break, who finished 4th; Pieter Jacobs (Topsport Vlaanderen) is just out of the shot.
Bennett on the far left lunges hard for the line, making sure he gets the most out his momentum in the last few metres of the hard fought race. Steels in the centre now has his hands back on the bars and is looking a bit shook.
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The effort of the sprint tells on Bennett's face on the right. Steels' a nano second earlier was sticking his hands in the air, but now he's got one of them planted on his head; he's feeling the pain....
Let''s just have a close up of that shall we?
Bennett, with victiory in the bag, punches the air as the unfortunate Steels curses himself; the 3rd and 4th placed riders can been seen in the background.
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