Sam Bennett’s efforts to win a second stage at the Tour Down Under came unstuck when the guide book description of the finishing straight did not tally with the road lay-out.
The Irish sprinter finished 2nd today on stage 4 to Caleb
Ewan and said afterwards he believed there was 300 metres to the line after the
final bend.
However, when the riders came around that bend Bennett
said they could immediately see the 150m to go sign.
He added the mix-up messed up his sprint and he believed
he probably would have beaten Ewan to win had the error not occurred.
It was a second victory for Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) who had
also claimed stage 2 after Bennett (Deceuninck-QuickStep) won the opening
stage.
Ewan just about overtook Bennett just before the finish
line into Murray Bridge to win today.
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Bennett said his team mates had done a great job but he
felt the team’s efforts were underdone by the road book’s misleading
representation of the sprint.
"It
said it was 300 metres to go from the
final corner. But when we
came out of it we already saw
the 150 metres sign,” he said.
"I think if it was the way it said in the book; I think we would have got it,” he said,
explaining he believed his lead-out was about to wind up as he quickly realised
he should kick for the line.
When he kicked
the road then went up and down slightly and as Ewan judged his effort better he
got past Bennett to take it.
In the fight for
the overall, Daryl Impey (Mitchelton Scott) pulled back three seconds in time
bonuses on race leader Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) with two stages remaining.
Porte has three seconds in hand on the South African ahead of what could be another sprinters’ stage tomorrow before the final hilly day up Willunga Hill.
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