Tipperary sprinter claimed seventh stage victory of 2019
Sam Bennett's incredible 2019 continued today when he claimed stage 3 of the Criterium du Dauphiné.
The Bora-Hansgrohe rider claimed his seventh different stage victory of the year when he won today's sprint into the central French city of Riom. Bennett claimed the stage in a time of 4:15:25, and comfortably saw off the challenge of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Davie Ballerini (Astana).
Bennett said after the stage that he had to battle against unseasonable conditions to claim the win, "It was a pretty chaotic final. I was a little worried about how my legs were after the last two days, and then it was so cold during the stage. You're always going to feel bad when it's that cold"
Today's stage victory follows wins in the Vuelta a San Juan, UAE Tour, Paris-Nice and Tour of Turkey. Bennett missed out on a place in Bora-Hansgrohe's team for the Giro D'Italia, and it seems as though he'll miss next month's Tour de France as well. Pascal Ackermann took the points race in Italy, while Peter Sagan is likely to be preferred in France.
⏪ Un excellent travail d'équipe pour une victoire au sprint de @Sammmy_Be, revivez le dernier kilomètre de cette étape 3⃣ du #Dauphiné.
⏪ Great teamwork for @Sammmy_Be's sprint victory, relive the last kilometre of stage 3⃣. pic.twitter.com/WE4mIAxHbj— Critérium du Dauphiné (@dauphine) June 11, 2019
Despite missing out on those grand tour rides, Bennett is determined to impress his bosses wherever he races, "I'm trying to get a win in each stage race I go to.
"It's sometimes hard to keep that consistency all year. I've been doing pretty good in the stage races and just want to keep it going."
Bennett praised the efforts of his team-mates today in helping him gain the stage victory, especially Kiwi rider Shane Archbold who only joined the team in April, "At the last moment Shane said 'I'm still good, are you still on my wheel?' and he hit it and took me to 200m to go.
"I felt really good in the final. I have to thank the full team again, they rode really hard all day and then the guys did a great job in the final putting me in a good position."
Dan Martin finished 76th on today's stage.
The yellow jersey still belongs to Bahrain-Merida's Dylan Teuns, who holds a 3-second lead over Guillaume Martin.
Tomorrow's stage is a 26.1km individual time trial around the town of Roanne.
