An Post Chain Reaction Sean Kelly rider Sam Bennett came agonisingly close to securing the biggest victory of his career on stage two of the Tour of Britain (2.1) today. The Carrick-an-Suir native blasted past Thomas Löfkvist (IAM Cycling) with less than 500 metres to go of the 187 kilometre route into Kendal. Löfkvist had looked set to take the stage victory, but Milan San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) gave chase on Bennett, catching him close to the line to secure a magnificent win.
Despite the obvious disappointment, it’s a superb result for Bennett; a performance which will surely have caught the eye of some of the bigger teams, as a step up in level to the pro continental or world stage looks more and more imminent for the twenty three-year old.
Bennett’s performance will also give the selectors of the Irish team for the World Championships a headache as he guns for the fourth and final spot, which is due to be announced later today.
It was a fine day all round for the An Post Chain Reaction team - a magnificent team effort. Antrim native Sean Downey worked tirelessly out in front with the breakaway for a large part of the race, taking the points on the first climb of the day. Coming into the final stages of the race, it was only the industrious support work of British rider, Mark McNally and Belgian, Nicolas Vereecken that enabled Bennett to attack on the ascent of Beasts Bank, to the line.
The win for Ciolek put’s him top of the general classification going into the stage three Individual Time Trial tomorrow. Downey’s sterling work on the climbs today moves him up to second place in the King of the Mountains classification, with Bennett and Aaron Gate positioned fourth in the points and sprints classification respectively.
A delighted team manager, Kurt Bogaerts, was thrilled with his team’s performance.
“I am really happy for the riders. It was a real team effort today. Everyone was magnificent and worked so hard. It’s always our aim to be aggressive from the start and challenge for the points and that’s exactly what we did today. I am gutted that Sam missed out on the victory but it is still a magnificent result for us. He’s been in phenomenal form so he really deserves it.”