Sam Bennett has come back after his post-Giro rest and taken a brilliant sprint victory. He galloped home in a sprint where Marcel Kittel also made the podium.
Sam Bennett wins Rund um Köln in bunch finish
Fresh from his three stage wins at the Giro d’Italia, Sam Bennett has taken victory in Germany today.
The Irishman, riding for Bora-hansgrohe, was too quick for the opposition in Rund um Köln (1.1).
It was Bennett’s second victory in the fixture, having also won in 2014 not long after turning pro.
After 207.7km in Köln Bennett got the verdict over Mihkel Raim (Israel Cycling Academy).
Szymon Sajnok (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) rounded out the podium. He was followed by Brenton Jones (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) and Marcel Kittel (Katusha-Alpecin)
As has been the case a number of times this season, Sam Bennett’s team mates did Trojan work today.
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The early breakawy and Bennett's team leading the charge in pursuit (Photo: Hans Scholz)
They were called into action to close down an early breakaway, along with Kittel’s team mates.
And then when the racing regrouped and moved onto the finishing circuit, for three laps of a 6km course, they proved instrumental once more.
In the early escape was Gatis Smukulis (Delko Marseille) along with Kristian Sbaragli (Israel Cycling Academy) and Sjoerd van Ginneken (Roompot).
Also present were Igor Boev (Gazprom), Florian Stork (Sunweb Development Team), Davide Orrico (Vorarlberg) and Joab Schneiter (Switzerland).
They combined well and pulled out a gap of four minutes. With the two fastest men in the race, responsibility for closing them down fell to Bora-hansgrohe and Katusha-Alpecin.
However, the gap came down a little too quickly and the escape was caught with 50km remaining.
The bunch would soon split, with approximately 30 riders pulling clear of the rest. However, the race regrouped on the approach to Cologne to set up a bunch sprint.
And while Bennett’s team had worked very hard throughout the race, they still had the legs to control the lead-out and deliver Bennett to the front at the right time.
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