Having won his fourth stage in the Presidential Tour of Turkey on Saturday, Sam Bennett’s goal of taking a fifth victory in six days unravelled right at the end of Sunday’s final leg of the race. The Carrick-on-Suir rider took the final corner of the stage to Istanbul faster than his rivals for the sprint and crashed, losing his chance.
The final stage went to Trek-Segafredo’s Edward Theuns, who previously played second fiddle to Bennett in the sprints for much of the race. Crucially, although Bennett was several points clear in the sprints classification starting the last stage, his crash meant that he missed out on the points up for grabs and ultimately lost that jersey to Theuns.
Fortunately Bennett wasn’t badly injured. Still, despite the disappointment, the Bora-hansgrohe rider will leave the race on a confidence high. His four stage wins out of six is a remarkable achievement, and shows he is still riding strongly at the end of a season which started back in January. Taking ten victories in 2017 is also a major morale boost, and suggests he will be a force in 2018.
Presidential Tour of Turkey
Stage 6, Istanbul: 1, Edward Theuns (Trek - Segafredo) 3 hours 24 mins 32 secs; 2, M. Pelucchi (Bora - Hansgrohe); 3, F. Gavazzi (Androni - Sidermec - Bottecchia); 4, J. Pantano Gomez (Trek - Segafredo); 5, D. Ballerini (Androni - Sidermec - Bottecchia); 6, D. Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) all same time. Irish: 54, S. Bennett (Bora - Hansgrohe)
Final general classification: 1, Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) 26 hours 32 mins 13 secs; 2, J. Hansen (Astana Pro Team) at 12 secs; 3, F. Masnada (Androni - Sidermec - Bottecchia) at 24 secs; 4, D. Felipe Martinez Poveda (Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia) at 29 secs; 5, I. Arslanov (Gazprom - Rusvelo) at 30 secs; 6, Y. Godoy (Wilier Triestina - Selle Italia) same time. Irish: 52, S. Bennett (Bora - Hansgrohe) at 14 mins 30 secs
Points classification: 1, Edward Theuns (Trek - Segafredo) 68 pts; 2, S. Bennett (Bora - Hansgrohe) 60; 3, S. Consonni (UAE Team Emirates) 52; 4, F. Gavazzi (Androni - Sidermec - Bottecchia) 44; 5, R. Minali (Astana Pro Team) 42.
