Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) has come away empty-handed from the opening stage of Renewi Tour (2.UWT) in Belgium, where Jonathan Milan (Lidl Trek) won after a crash-marred finale.
Irish rider Bennett appeared to got backwards immediately Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin - Deceuninck) began his lead-out for Jasper Philipsen in the final kilometre.
While Olav Kooij (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Fabio Jakobsen (Team dsm-firmenich PostNL) were among the fallers before the speed really ramped up inside the final 10km, there was also another crash on the finish line.
Tim Merlier (Soudal QuickStep) appeared to move to his right while lunging for the line and brought down Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), who were still 4th and 5th on the stage. And though Merlier appeared to be blaming Groenewegen as both looked shook and injured on the tarmac, the replay strongly suggested it was Merlier's fault.
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As the stage moved into the final kilometre - after 163.6 of racing into Bilzen - Bennett was alone close to the font and managed to move up from about 20th to 6th wheel. However, when Van der Poel then began his full-on lead-out, Bennett lost the wheel and went backwards.
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The effort of having to fend for himself at the very end perhaps taking its toll, but the Irishman lost significant ground as those behind him came around him in a bid to stay in the sprint.
At the last, Milan benefitted more from Van der Poel's lead-out than Philipsen just before the line and the Italian won it well; holding off Philipsen and Axel Zingle (Cofidis) after a long sprint to the line. Bennett did not feature in the top 10.
More to come.
