Sam Bennett's hopes of taking a consecutive win in Eschborn-Frankfurt, a one-day World Tour race in Germany, were ended when he got int difficulty yesterday on the late climb that saw the field spilt.
While Bora-hansgrohe's Bennett was best in a sprint from a bunch of about 80 riders 12 months ago, yesterday's event was a much different affair; raced much harder with the field breaking up significantly.
And while there was a regrouping of sorts after the last climb, with several groups combining to create a reduced peloton of about 40 riders, a 10-man breakaway had already gone clear and survived out front to battle for victory on the day.
Søren Kragh Andersen (Alpecin-Deceuninck) led out the sprint from that breakaway group and proved too strong for those he was with; the Dane winning comfortably from Bennett's team mate, Patrick Konrad, with Alessandro Fedeli (Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team) placing 3rd.
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Bennett was in the next small group on the road after the reduced bunch, though he and the riders he was with were over six minutes down. The Irishman got into difficulty on the third passage of the Mammolshain, a 2.3km climb with an average gradient of eight per cent.
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That climb was crested for the last time with just over 35km remaining, with the attacks being fired off the front at the time. Bennett went over the top of the hill just off the back of the group.
He fought his way back on but when the field fragmented again under sustained pressure - splitting into several groups - he was too far down. He never got back into the main bunch, created when a number of the groups combined in pursuit of the breakaway.
That lead group had forged clear just over the top of the third and final ascent of the Mammolshain. And though the reduced main field looked for a time like it may recapture the escapees, the riders up front proved to strong. As they took the bell for one final lap of the 7.6km finishing circuit in Frankfurt, they had about 20 seconds.
Behind them, the steam eventually ran out of the chase and it became clear the breakaway men would have their day. Despite several attacks from the breakaway on the run-in, the 10 leaders arrived at the finish together to sprint it out. Kragh Andersen took his first win as an Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, and his first since winning the stage 4 TT at BinckBank Tour (2.UWT) in 2020.
Ireland's Bennett is next provisionally penciled in to ride Tour de Hongrie, starting on May 10th and where there should be several chances for the sprinters.
