Irish Cycling News: Sam Bennett, Stephen Clancy, An Post

The Irish riders have been in action abroad in recent days so we've put together these Irish cycling news shorts featuring Sam Bennett, Stephen Clancy and An Post-Chainreaction.

Sam Bennett

Bora-hansgrohe sprinter Sam Bennett has been in action a couple of times since finishing the Giro d’Italia, where he repeatedly came close to a stage win.

Yesterday in German, where his team is based, he contested the 206.3km Rund um Köln. It was won by Bennett’s team mate Gregor Mühlberger from a breakaway.

The race split to pieces, with the sprinters not figuring. Sam Bennett finished in 74th and in the peloton 4:43 down.

Last Thursday he rode the 188.7km GP du canton d'Argovie (1.HC).

The Swiss race ended in a bunch sprint won by Sacha Modolo (UAE Team Emirates) from John Degenkolb (Trek Segafredo).

Sam Bennett came home in 10th place on the same time as the winner.

Stephen Clancy

Novo Nordisk man Stephen Clancy gets around the world with his US-based ProContinental team.

He has been riding the Grand Prix Cycliste de Saguenay (2.2) stage race in Canada and has done well.

Limerick man Clancy was 89th on the opening stage last Thursday, coming come in a large group some 16:56 down. The field split to pieces, with five riders outside the time limit.

And 17 men failed to finish the 161km stage starting and finished in La Baie; a huge abandon rate on the opening day of a stage race.

The second stage, also starting and finishing in La Baie, took the riders over 171km. A lead group of 28 riders gained 23 seconds on the best of the rest of the field, which split to pieces.

Clancy made it into the large escape and was 11th on the day; the stage won by Émile Jean (Silber Pro Cycling).

Clancy finished 19th on stage 3 when he finished in a very reduced peloton 11 seconds behind a 10-man escape. Chad Beyer (Canyon) claimed victory from the breakaway.

An Post-Chainreaction in France

After the success of the Rás, the An Post-Chainreaction team have had a low-key campaign at the Ronde de l'Oise (2.2) in France.

The race concluded yesterday, with none of the riders threatening overall.

Damien Shaw came very close to making the winning breakaway on the opening stage, but couldn’t close the last few seconds to latch on. He was caught by the peloton.

Przemysław Kasperkiewicz was best of the An Post men on that opening stage; in 27th place 1:57 down on the stage victor.

Stewart was next of the team, coming home in 30th just 3 seconds later.

Shaw was in 48th place, 2:07 down on the winner, with Hennebry 59th at 2:21 and McKenna 77th at 2:44.

Stage 2 into Le Plessis-Belleville on Friday ended in a bunch sprint after 180.2km.

It was won by Yannis Yssaad (Cycliste Armée de Terre). McKenna was 53rd, Hennebry 63rd and Shaw 84th.

The penultimate stage on Saturday took the riders 218.5km from Sérifontaine to Ressons-sur-Matz.

A group of almost 30 riders put two minutes into the next group on the road, with the rest of the field strewn much further back down the road.

Rasmus Quaade (Giant – Castelli) ran out the winner, with Shaw 71st at 5:08. Hennebry was 78th at 8:01 and McKenna 87th at 11:56.

Yesterday’s final stage, 180km from Nogent-sur-Ois to Liancour saw a group of 43 arrive at the finish together.

McKenna was present and finished 38th, with the stage won by Jordan Levasseur (Cycliste Armée de Terre).

Shaw had been on the attack early in the day. But because of his exploits this year he is better known now and was given no leeway, especially by Cycliste Armée de Terre.

The Mullingar man would be caught and was 61st at 2:36 at the end of the day. Hennebry was 76th at 7:52.

Kasperkiewicz was 5th on that final stage and another of the postmen Mark Stewart was a promising 4th overall in the young riders' classification.

The race was won by Flavien Dassonville (HP BTP - Auber93). He made the escape that Shaw just missed on stage 1 and would hold the race lead all the way.