Sam Bennett lunges for the line with Mark Cavendish at the end of 185km in Italy and takes victory from the Manxman (Photo: Sirotti)
Having won his first bunch sprint yesterday since his terrible crash on the opening stage of the Tour de France way back in early July, Irish fastman Sam Bennett signalled his return to the big time today.
The Carrick-on-Suir rider bested Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data) in the sprint to the line to win the second and concluding stage of the two-day Giro della Toscana (UCI 2.1).
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The stage took the riders some 185km from Montecatini Terme to Pontedera and when it came down to a bunch sprint Bennett well and truly put to rest what has been a testing year for him.
His high speed crash at the Tour cut his body to pieces but he has also spoken about trying to get his confidence back for the serious combat that is bunch sprinting.
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But having taken the bunch sprint for 5th place on stage 1 yesterday, just seconds behind the four-man escape, Bennett has clearly settled back into his groove.
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And he has taken his biggest scalp in Cavendish as well as very significantly officially closing the door on a rough few months.
Bennett came home today side by side in a three man lunge to the line, just about seeing off both Cavendish and Daniele Bennati (Team Italy).
We’ll hopefully have a word with Bennett a little bit later.
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