Sam Bennett, far left, sprints in for another podium finish, narrowly being beaten for victory.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Sam Bennett has chalked another podium result this afternoon by finishing runner-up in the UCI 1.1-ranked Garmin Velothon in Berlin.
It’s the second year in succession the Irishman has been second, having only been beaten by Garmin-SHARP man Raymond Kreder last year.
This time around it was Dutchman Ramon Sinkeldam (Team Giant-Alpecin) who took the honours with his teammate Zico Waeytens in third.
The 174-kilometre event was pretty much pan flat and Bennett was always going to be his team’s protected rider today.
He and his team are still on a high after a very impressive showing by the Carrick man at Bayern-Rundfahrt (2.HC) earlier in the month where he wore the yellow jersey, won two stages and was third and fourth on other stages.
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While another victory today so soon after those stage race exploits would have been welcomed, the fact Bennett seems to be hitting a very consistent level of sprinting bodes well for him with the Tour de France just one month away.
The weight of today's swag seems to bear heavily on the young Bennett.
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"Second place is a good result for Sam and the team, but of course we wanted to win here,” said the team’s sporting director Enrico Poitschke.
“Unfortunately that wasn't meant to be today. However, in general the race went exactly according to our plan.
"We wanted to allow a small break away and that happened after 15 kilometres.
“We started early to control the group. Michael (Scwarzmann) did an excellent job riding in front for such a long time.
“The other five riders focused on the finale to prepare the sprint. Sam should be placed in an ideal position where not even the risk arises that he gets blocked.
“The guys did very well.”
Next up for Bennett is a race he won last year, Rund um Koln, on June 14th.
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