— ⚪ Blanco Bee (@BlancoAsegurado) February 9, 2024
Mads Pedersen demolishes the sprint as Sam Bennett and his lead-out have more work to do to gel as a unit, though it is early days in the partnership
Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) made it two wins from two at Tour de la Provence today, 24 hours after claiming the opening 5km prologue to take the first leader's jersey of the four-stage race.
In torrential rain today, on a dicey run-in to the finish in Martigues, Sam Bennett appeared to be following the eventual winner closely, with the support of two of his new team mates at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team.
However, in a series of twists and turns in the final 1km, Bennett appeared to lose ground - and then lose his final lead-out man - as Pedersen powered forward to claim a very clear victory; the former world champion clearly in mint condition at present.
Advertisement
Bennett was behind his 21-year-old French team mate, Pierre Gautherat, deep inside the final kilometre, though they were outside the top 10 and too far back to threaten those sprinting on the front.
In the final push to the line, while Gautherat continued with his effort, Bennett pulled over a little with a shake of the head to indicate his sprint was over. It was unclear if he let a gap open to his team mate that he could not close, and so backed off, or if there was some other issue.
Related News
The general classification times were taken 5km from the finish, meaning only those interested in trying to win the stage today went on to contest the sprint finish, in heavy rain and amid precariously placed roadside barriers in the final.
As Pedersen sprinted to victory ahead of Axel Zingle (Cofidis), Riley Pickrell (Israel-Premier Tech) and Samuel Watson (Groupama-FDJ), Bennett's lead-out man, Gautherat, placed 13th with the Irish rider back in 18th.
However, while that was a disappointing first sprint outing for Bennett - especially after a strong TT yesterday - the conditions and the chaos at the front of the bunch mean we will have to wait another day, perhaps tomorrow or Sunday, to get a true gauge of Bennett's kick and his lead-out.
On the strength of today's performance, the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team sprint set-up needs to become a closer unit, while also moving up much nearer to the front of the bunch before the finishing kick starts.
However, even Pedersen lost his lead-out man today when Alex Kirsch powered off the front inside the final kilometre and looked for a moment like he may win the stage. He faded significantly to finish 14th, with Pedersen able to rescue the situation with sheer power, which was very impressive.
Bennett will look to get much closer to a victory this weekend than he did today. Sunday's final stage is perhaps the best chance as some late lumps and bumps tomorrow may see many of the sprinters distanced before the finish in Manosque.
Though he did not feature today, as the GC time was taken with 5km to go and the finish time bonuses were cancelled - all due to the conditions - Bennett is 8th overall, still just 12 seconds down on Pedersen with two stages remaining.
