Video stage 5 Tour of Qatar - Sam Bennett: "I stupidly gave Boonen space in the sprint"

By Gerard Cromwell

Despite having recorded a fine 7th place finish on today’s penultimate stage of the Tour of Qatar, NetApp Endura neo-pro Sam Bennett couldn’t help wondering what might have been afterwards.

“It was a hectic sprint,” he said of the boys in blue’s efforts to get their young Irish sprinter to the front in the final 5km.

“Everyone was pretty fresh so to get a sprint train organised was very hard because we kept getting split up. The guys did everything they could but we just needed maybe one more rider at the end.”

While NetApp Endura fought their way back to the front to get Bennett into a decent position with 2km to go, the Carrick-On-Suir sprinter once again found himself boxed in when the final gallop to the line began.

“I need to push a little bit more for positions,” admitted the 24-year-old, who has already racked up a fifth place on stage four and wore the white jersey for a day in Qatar.

“I also thought that (Tom) Boonen had a big train coming with him but there was only one rider and I stupidly let him in. I know from the results this week that my legs mustn’t be that bad but at the end of the day who comes into the race for fifth or seventh?

Related News

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains

Video - Ireland's Meehan climbs with best on brutal Alpine terrain

“I’m really happy to be getting the support from my new team and I suppose I am building confidence every day, but I just want to stop making little mistakes in races.”

Bennett will have one more chance to impress in tomorrow’s final 113km stage to Doha Corniche.

The Irishman’s team sporting director, Alex Sans Vega conceded the lead out train could have been better today.

“Today we again focused on preparing the sprint for Sam,” he said.

“At the same time, it became clear that we need more experience and training to deliver a perfect sprint train. We started our train before we should have, which meant that Sam was ultimately left on his own too soon.

“That is something that can be coordinated and something we can work on in the next races. I’m glad that our guys are so motivated and willing to work together to address mistakes after the race. They always try to do things better the next day.”

Feb 9th to 14th: Tour of Qatar (UCI 2.HC)

Feb 13th, Stage 5: Al Zubara Fort to Madinat ash-Shamal (159km)