Sam Bennett barrels in for biggest win of his life with epic stage victory at Tour of Britain

No photo finish needed as Sam Bennett blasts home to take stage 5 of the Tour of Britain today (Photo: Larry Hickmott - VeloUK.net)

By Gavin McLoughlin

Sam Bennett of Carrick-on-Suir celebrated his selection for the World Championships with a huge victory on stage 5 of the Tour of Britain today, Thursday.

The 22-year-old An Post-Chainreaction rider made it over two ascents of the short, steep Caerphilly Mountain with a small elite group, and would emerge triumphant after a five-kilometre descent to the finish line by comfortably besting his opponents in the sprint.

It is the biggest victory of young Bennett’s career, propelling him into the lead on the points classification at one point ahead of Martin Elmiger (IAM Cycling) and Jack Bauer (Garmin-Sharp).

Runner-up to the Milan-San Remo champion by a tiny margin on stage 2, this is the race at which the talented Irishman has demonstrated that he truly belongs at the top table of professional cycling.

Customarily thought of as a sprinter, Bennett has proven this week that he possesses no mean kick on the punchy ascents.

The win comes just 24 hours after his place on the Irish squad for the Worlds was announced, and though that event likely comes a little early in his development for him to be in contention, the Carrick-on-Suir rider looks certain to be a future prospect for big one-day races.

A contract with a World Tour or Pro-Continental team must now surely await him.

Bennett’s win came after another combative performance from Dan Martin, with the Garmin-Sharp leader launching a potent attack on the second ascent of the critical mountain.

Martin flew clear about a kilometre shy of the summit, though eventually he was hauled back at the top by Tour de France runner-up Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

Sergio Pardilla of MTN Qhubeka joined them on the downhill, but with the Sky domestiques of race leader Bradley Wiggins doing the chasing, the trio were caught by Bennett’s contingent.

Martin would go on to finish in the same group as the stage winner, and is up to ninth place on general classification at 1:38 behind Wiggins. He remains the best-placed Irishman on the overall standings.

The other Irish representatives - IG-Sigma Sport man Peter Hawkins and Bennett’s teammate Sean Downey – respectively arrived home 4:43 and 5:19 behind Bennett today.

Angel Madrazo’s presence in the day’s four-man break saw the Spaniard increase his lead in the mountains classification, but 23-year-old Downey managed to climb back to second in that competition by leading the chasing peloton over the day’s first two ascents.

Today’s leg always looked like it might deliver an Irish victory, but Martin and not Bennett was the name on the lips of most.

The severe 2.3-kilometre Caerphilly Mountain would be climbed twice in the final 15 kilometres before the 5-kilometre downhill run, a parcours that looked well suited to the Liège-Bastogne-Liège winner.

The 177-kilometre trek from Machynlleth to Caerphilly began with a four-man breakaway consisting of Pete Williams (IG-Sigma Sport), Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox), Angel Madrazo (Movistar) and Jacob Rathe (Garmin-Sharp).

It was the third time Madrazo has been in the break this week, so as well as extending his advantage in the mountains competition his presence out front today allowed him to lift the intermediate sprints jersey from An Post man Aaron Gate.

Pete Williams was distanced by the other breakaway men about 40 kilometres out, and with 25 kilometres left the remaining leaders’ slim advantage began to melt away rapidly as Sky injected some fresh urgency.

Movistar’s hugely-powerful Briton Alex Dowsett hit the front with 20 kilometres to go, and with Nairo Quintana in his wheel it looked like Dowsett was trying to set the gifted Colombian up for a shot at glory.

Out front, Pirazzi and Rathe threw in attacks, but all three leaders were together when the foot of Caerphilly Mountain arrived for the first time.

Pirazzi darted ahead briefly but the peloton was snapping at the Italian’s heels and soon the stage would be set for the serious attacking to begin.

Unsurprisingly, Quintana was first to go, with a small group that included Bennett setting off in pursuit. Clearly the Carrick-on-Suir man had good legs, but at this point few could have imagined that he would end the day on the top step of the podium.

For the Irishman was expending a lot of energy and was unable to follow Quintana for long. With Martin and Wiggins keeping their cool, Francesco Bongiorno (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) was Quintana’s only companion, and together the Italian and Colombian sailed through the crowds atop the climb and began the first descent.

Their advantage was insignificant, and this allowed David Le Lay (Sojasun) to plunge away from peloton on the downhill and go straight past Quintana and Bongiorno.

The French rider led the way up the second ascent of Caerphilly Mountain, but he would be caught when Martin played his hand. The Irishman had been floating near the back of the group and you wondered if he would be content to follow the wheels.

But this was far from the case. Martin glided through the bunch like a fish through water and left everyone behind, quickly settling back into the saddle and spinning a high cadence in his instantly recognisable style.

Quintana gave chase behind and he had reeled the Irishman back by the summit. Pardilla joined on the critical descent and it looked like the battle for stage honours would be a near-carbon copy of Martin’s duel with Jakob Fuglsang on stage 9 of the Tour de France.

However, the three leaders were hauled back with 2.5 kilometres to go. Still the Sky train was in control and then it became clear that the burly Bennett was still in the group.