Sam Bennett looked to have pulled off a great overtaking move on his way to a fifth victory, only to hit the deck hard and be taken out of the final gallop into Istanbul at the Tour of Turkey.
Video Sam Bennett crash stage 6 Tour of Turkey
Irish sprinter Sam Bennett’s hopes of taking a fifth victory at the Tour of Turkey went up in smoke at the last in Istanbul today.
And the crash not only cost him another stage win, but also the points classification.
The Irish rider was third rounding the penultimate corner. He looked to have pulled off a neat overtaking move, passing sprint rival Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo).
However, just as the Irishman was about to pass Theuns and looked set for victory, disaster struck.
On the uneven paving of what looked like a pedestrianised street, Bennett’s wheels went from under him.
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And he was left sitting on the deck, looking stunned and annoyed as Theuns sprinted off up the road to win.
The Belgian was just seven points down on Bennett in the points classification starting this morning.
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And because the stage win was worth 15 points, he also took the points classification from Bennett.
Theuns ended that classification with 68 points to Sam Bennett's 60 in 2nd place. It was a very disappointing end to what has been the week of Bennett’s career to date.
The race was won overall by Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates). He had claimed victory on the uphill stage 4 and held the race lead with relative comfort on the final two stages.
The Italian won the race outright by 12 seconds from Jesper Hansen (Astana). And Fausto Masnada (Androni-Sidermec-Bottecchia) was 3rd a further 12 seconds back.
More to follow.
Sam Bennett'a etap galibiyetinin yanı sıra yeşil mayoya da mal olan kaza ? #TUR2017 pic.twitter.com/iPpt1Tes5I
— Eurosport TR (@Eurosport_TR) October 15, 2017
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