Sam Bennett’s hopes of getting his season back on track with a victory on the opening stage of Tour de Pologne today took repeated hits in the finale after a series of incidents.
Lead-out men Ryan Mullen and Shane Archbald suffered a mechanical and late crash respectively. In the final kilometre, Bennett himself then almost hit the crowd control barriers, which were not constructed in a straight line at points.
Bennett’s young German team mate, Jordi Meeus, was acting as his last lead-out man but when the Irish rider had to back off in the final after almost hitting the barriers, Meesus continued with his effort and managed to salvage 3rd on the stage.
At the end of 218.8km of racing from Kielce to Lublin – featuring a rising drag to the finish line – 20-year-old new sprint star Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) took victory from Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious), who won the same stage last year.
Advertisement
In the end Bennett finished in 14th place in the same time as the winner after almost 5½ hours of racing. Frustratingly, the Irishman will have to wait to truly test his sprint form after his break from racing following his non-selection for the Tour de France.
Enrico Gasparotto, Bora-hansgrohe sports director, said the finale had not gone according to plan but the team would reset for the next stages.
Related News
"It was quite a long stage, at almost 220km. We expected a bunch sprint, so our strategy was to ride for Sam. The guys rode well together over the last 5km, with Cesare having put in a particularly strong effort,” he said.
“Then came the more technical part where Ryan suffered a mechanical and Shane was involved in the crash in the finale. Jordi and Sam were well positioned ahead of the the right turn 800 metres from the finish line and both managed to avoid the crash.
“However, at one point Sam almost rode into the barriers, lost Jordi's wheel and had to brake. Under the circumstances, Jordi's third place is a pretty good result, upon which we can definitely build in the coming days."
