Sam Bennett was very well placed at Milan-Sanremo as the raced moved into its finale today, but the Irishman was beaten by the pace up the slopes of the Poggio.
In the closing stages Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep)
attacked solo and was chased down and caught by Wout van Aert (Jumbo Visma).
They just about made it to the finish line ahead of a group of 30.
Van Aert won the two-up sprint from last year’s winner
and added Milan-Sanremo to his palmares just one week after taking victory at
Strade-Bianche.
As has so often been the case, the final climb of the
race was decisive today and Bennett was dropped with 7.6km remaining to the
finish as the fireworks went off up the Poggio.
Under an intense series of attacks, Bennett slipped back the reduced peloton, which numbered about 60 riders, and went out the back.
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However, the Irish champion dug in hard and managed to
get back on briefly, only for more gaps to open at the back of the pack, with
Bennett not having enough left in his legs to close them.
Once dropped for a second time he never got back to the group again and eventually finished on his own some 4:26 down after 305km of racing in very hot conditions; a puncture during the race not helping his cause.
It was a spirited performance by Bennett; the Deceuninck-QuickStep man lasting longer than most of the top sprinters in the race.
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Up from his team mate Alaphilippe did the decisive damage
close to the top of the Poggio and only eventual winner Van Aert could live
with the pace he set.
After a group of early escapees had been caught and
number of riders tried their luck in the finale, Gianluca Brambilla (Trek-Segafredo) and Aimé De Gendt (Circus-Wanty Gobert) attacked on the Poggio and pulled out an
impressive gap.
However, they did
not last out front and when Alaphilippe, who punctured with 25km to go, attacked
7km from the finish it immediately looked decisive.
Van Aert went
after him, but couldn’t close up to the Frenchman, only making the juncture on
the descent.
Once they joined
forces, even a concerted effort back in the large chase group, led by Team
Sunweb for Michael Matthews, couldn’t bring them back.
The large chasing
group closed to within a few seconds of the leaders deep inside the final
kilometre on what was a nail biting finish.
However, Van Aert
and Alaphilippe just about had enough in hand to take the first two placings,
with Matthews winning the sprint for 3rd place only two seconds back.
Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) was 4th with Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) and Kiwi Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) in 5th and 6th respectively.
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