Sam Bennett has abandoned Classic Brugge-De Panne, which he won two years ago, with his team saying he has not recovered from the illness that forced him out of Paris-Nice the week before last.
While the Irishman started the race today, his Bora-hansgrohe team confirmed he had abandoned. It added he was "still feeling ill and not yet fully recovered".
Before the race started today, Bennett had spoken about his eventful couple of weeks - abandoning Paris-Nice and crashing heavily at Milan-Sanremo last weekend. But he played down the significance of having not fully shaken off the illness, saying he felt he would be OK today.
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“I feel okay. I've been a bit sick since the start of Paris-Nice - not really sick, but a bit sluggish for two weeks, so it's quite frustrating. And then we also have the prospect of rain, so I hope to recover soon, but I'm okay,"
He also looked ahead to the finish of today's World Tour one-day race, saying he expected it to be "pretty chaotic".
"First, there are the railroad tracks, which make it one of the most dangerous sprints of the entire year. And then of course there is the last right turn, where we drive a few hundred meters with an aggressive field."
