Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) could barely have gone any closer to winning today's opening stage at Tour de Hongrie. The Irish rider showed he is in great form for the gallops after just being pipped for victory from what is an all-star sprinters' line-up at the five-stage race.
With Bennett, Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep), Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious), Dylan Groenewegen (Team Jayco AlUla), Álvaro José Hodeg (UAE Team Emirates) and Caleb Ewan (Lotto Dstny) all in action in Hungary, the sprint field is deeper than at the Giro.
Today just one of those men managed to get to the line before Ireland's Bennett; Groenewegen winning it on the lunge from Bennett with Ewan placing 3rd. However, Bennett was so close to victory he can take solace from the fact he has the legs to take a win in the days ahead - perhaps tomorrow - which would act as a timely confidence booster.
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Bennett was led-out perfectly by team mates Danny van Poppel and Ireland's Ryan Mullen, with Groenewegen piggy backing a little on the Bora-hansgrohe train to take the victory, his third win of the season to date.
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The 168.6km stage, which started and finished in Szentgotthárd, was marred by late crashes as the sprinters' trains were lining up and vying for position. One of this incidents, with 1km to go, took out Ineos Grenadiers riders Luke Plapp and Egan Bernal. While both were able to finish, and lost no time in the general classification due to the 3km rule, Bernal looked shook.
The Colombian is still on the comeback trail after his life-threatening training crash early last year. He showed the first flashes of proper condition at Tour de Romandie two weeks ago, with 8th overall. That result was a relief for him and his team, especially after he sustained a knee injury in a crash at Vuelta a San Juan Internacional (2.Pro) in Argentina back in January.
How today's knock will impact the already fragile Bernal remains to be seen. However, his team has said he sustained "road rash and bruising but has been cleared to start tomorrow’s stage" Plapp, however, has been showing signs of mild concussion and is out of the race.
For his part, stage winner Groenewegen said it was a "hectic" finish, which was what he expected today. "It was a very fast final with some wind from the back. It was a bit stressful, but the team was really good at the right moments," he said.
"I was a bit boxed in, Bora were there with their lead-out but I was there with Mezgec, and I got in the slipstream and it was a really nice sprint between Bennett and me. It was a very close win, and it was great to start Tour of Hungary like this."
