It’s Sam the track star
SAM BENNETT earned his second Giro d’Italia stage victory in six days after a devastatingly ambitious late attack on the Imola racetrack
Simon Yates did well to stay out of trouble and keep the overall lead for a seventh straight stage after a chaotic, rainsoaked finale.
Irishman Bennett caught his rivals napping 300 metres from the finish on the Enzo e Dino Ferrari track when he bolted for the line in an almost recklessly long-distance attack for a sprinter.
But by the time he powered across the grid and raised his arms in victory, Bennett was still two bike lengths ahead of the opposition.
“I started to run out of legs, looked back and saw the gap, and that gave me more legs,” he said.
“There were still two guys ahead of us all in the last kilometres from a breakaway. I didn’t know how much energy they had left, but I didn’t want another stage getting away from me.
“I think I caught some guys by surprise by going so early, so it worked to my advantage. It’s a nice way to win. It gives me confidence.”
Bennett grew up in Carrick-on-Suir, the same village as Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly, and raced with Kelly’s amateur team for three years before turning professional in 2014.
But whereas Kelly, also a classy sprinter, never won a stage in the Giro, Bennett now has two.
Thanks to those victories, he is also fast closing the gap on Points Classification leader Elia Viviani of Italy. But he insisted his priority remained taking stages for now.
“You have to use up a lot of energy fighting for mid-stage sprints to do well in the Points Classification, and if I lost the chance of a third stage, I’d never forgive myself,” he said.
Despite a short but tricky climb before the Imola race track, Briton Yates faced no real challenges to his overall lead.
But he admitted the final ascent and drop back to Imola, coming at the end of a raindrenched 209km stage across Northern Italy, had been tougher than he expected. “A few of us underestimated it, myself included,” he said.
“I thought the last part of the stage would be more straightforward. There were a few moments when somebody might have attacked and I had to stay close to the front to be sure that didn’t happen.”
“Nobody likes to race in the rain, but being from the UK, I have to be used to it. It wasn’t a problem. But this wasn’t a day where you could ease back much.”
After losing time on Wednesday’s finish, Chris Froome also completed the stage in the front group and remains in 12th place overall.
Today’s flatter stage to Nervesa della Battalgia in the north east will almost certainly see a bunch sprint before another high mountain showdown tomorrow.