After talking before the Vuelta a España about the need to “find himself” as a bunch sprinter again, a major piece of the puzzle fell into place for Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) on Saturday as the Irishman blasted home to his first Grand Tour stage win in nearly two years.
“This should be the turning point,” Bennett told reporters as he sat in the green jersey of points leader, another of his objectives in the Vuelta, having seen off sprinters as strong as former World Champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) and reigning Belgian National Champion Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix).
Bennett’s season, and indeed the last 18 months, have been a real rollercoaster. He took a key win for his team at the GP Eschborn-Frankfurt this May, sandwiched between a tricky exit from the former Deceuninck-QuickStep team and injuries and missing out on the Tour de France for the second year running in July.
Even after his stage 2 win at the Vuelta, Bennett was still doubting he had hit full form and instead paid tribute to his teammates for “really making that difference today.” But as a step in the right direction, Saturday’s win was a big one by anyone’s standards.
“I’m on my way back, I’m close, but I think this Vuelta will definitely be the key to bring me back to my top level,” Bennett said. “Here I’ll have that hard racing, be able to go deep, and get my strength, back so I can be really consistent. I’m close but this should be the turning point.”
Saturday’s dash for the line was anything but straightforward with multiple different teams to the fore in the run-in and as Bennett put it, “the first one is always chaotic. After that everybody finds a place and rhythm, so it’s nice to get the first win in early because it takes off the pressure.”
Just as he had said earlier this week about how his top form had yet to arrive, Bennett nonetheless defined stage 2 as “one of those days where everything clicked” and how teamwork had made the difference between success and failure.
“I had the GC riders working for me in the crosswinds, then Jonas [Koch] and Wilco [Kelderman] and Ryan Mullen, specially, in the intermediates, and then Ryan and Danny [Van Poppel] in the final.”
“I don’t know how Danny finds those gaps, but he hasn’t ever got it wrong yet. He delivered me with so much speed, my teammates today really made that difference,” Bennett concluded.
The green jersey
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