After taking his 11th top ten placing since turning pro this year, Sam Bennett insists today's fourth place at the Bayern Rundfahrt in Germany was a missed opportunity
By Gerard Cromwell
Although he had just taken fourth place on the opening stage of the five-day 2.HC ranked Bayern Rundfahrt stage race in Germany, NetApp Endura sprinter Sam Bennett wasn’t particularly pleased this evening.
Having finished a very close second in the Velothon Berlin a couple of weeks ago and then fifth on a stage of the World Ports Classic last weekend, he felt today’s fourth place was as another opportunity missed.
“I’m getting a bit pissed off now,” he said of his final sprint today.
“I can’t seem to get it right in the last four races. On Sunday, I was too late sprinting and I was fifth. On Saturday I kind of got pushed off the wheel so I messed that up and then in Berlin I only (sprinted) with 75 metres to go. I think I just panicked today and went too early.”
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With temperatures dropping and the rain pelting down during the stage, Bennett was so cold he decided to change his clothes halfway through today’s opener.
“I changed the whole upper half of my kit,” he said.
“I put on a second outfit of a base layer, jersey, winter gilet, winter jacket and a rain jacket. And even at that it was just about okay. It was way too cold to stop so I just rode along with my hands off the bars and did it.”
Sam Bennett (left) takes another top five for NetApp Endura on stage 1 of the Bayern Rundfahrt stage race in Germany, with Australian Heinrich Haussler victorious on the day.
Having survived an undulating first 190kms, Bennett managed to avoid a series of crashes when the race hit the 7.8km finishing circuit, which was covered two and a half times.
“It was raining all day and really slippery and cold. We came onto the laps and there were corners, hairpins and roundabouts everywhere.
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"Every time we came into a bottleneck, nobody had brakes so it was just carnage. We lost one of our guys, Michael Schwarzmann, just before the last lap on one of the roundabouts. I don’t know what happened.
"We were being pushed about and I went ahead of him for a split second. A crash happened behind and one of the Bretagne guys hit him and he came down."
The Irishman added that the other sprinter on his team Daniel Schorn got caught up in a crash with 3km remaining and was forced to unclip, taking him out of the finale.
"I just closed my eyes and went straight through it, I don’t know how I got through it but I kept going. Daniel tried to get up but it was just carnage.
"There were loads of crashes but I managed to put myself into an awesome spot in the last corner. I used the Shimano train and then Garmin came up and I got onto their lead out man’s wheel.
"I don’t know how it happened but I was second into the last corner behind a Garmin guy.”
Bennett wound up his sprint early, but was passed before the line by stage winner Heinrich Haussler of IAM Cycling, Ag2r’s Yauheni Hutarovich and Steel Van Hoff of Gramin Sharp.
“I went at about 250 metres which probably would have been okay if I’d been coming into the sprint at speed. But I came from a very low speed and 250 metres is way, way too long. I felt really slow and I think the weather took a lot out of the legs today.”
While tomorrow’s summit finish and the stage four time trial won’t suit him, Bennett is determined to have another go at winning a stage on Friday and Sunday.
“The third day could be a bunch sprint but whether I have good legs after 230km will be a another story. But it should be a sprint on the last day. I’ll definitely give it a good whack.
"I’d really like to be able to win a couple more races this year but it’s a bit harder doing it than saying you’re going to do it.”
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