BENNETT AS SHOCKED AS ANYONE BY VICTORY
HE couldn’t even keep up with the team mechanic a day earlier but Sam Bennett’s finishing power returned just in time to snatch back-to-back Race Melbourne crowns.
Bennett lasted barely an hour into a routine training ride on Wednesday, leaving the Irish cyclist unable to explain how he took out yesterday’s rapid 116.6km battle at Albert Park.
“(Expletive), I don’t know what the hell is going on,” Bennett said.
“I just felt awful yesterday. If there wasn’t a tailwind I wouldn’t have got home, I would have had to call the team car. Then I come out today and feel awesome.”
The BORA-hansgrohe sprinter again proved unstoppable in the final 100m of the Formula One circuit, winning comfortably from Italian Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) and Australian Steele von Hoff (KordaMentha Real Estate).
Pre-race favourite Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-Scott) faded in the closing stages to finish fifth, almost a mirror image of last year’s race. “It feels amazing,” Bennett said.
“I’ve just come to this race without expectation. I just waited, I jumped early but I came from behind and that seems to work here.”
The 22-lap race exploded to life immediately, with an aggressive peloton causing a pair of crashes – one of them claiming Poland’s Tour de France stage winner Maciej Bodnar, while Dutchman Daan Olivier suffered a suspected fractured pelvis.
In the women’s race, the dream summer for Adelaide’s Annette Edmondson continued when her seated surge and throw to the line won a tightly contested bunch sprint.
Edmondson, who took out the opening stage of this month’s Tour Down Under, timed her run to perfection to outlast Italian Giorgia Bronzini and American Kendall Ryan after 63.6km.