Sam Bennett went frustratingly close to a stage win in the Giro d'Italia on both Saturday and Sunday, finishing third in both bunch sprints.
On Saturday, Bennett crossed the line just behind Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) and Jakub Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia), saying afterwards that he had probably made his move too early. The other two were able to get around him before the finish. On Sunday he said before the stage that he wanted to do things differently but, as things played out, he had to strike out too soon again.
“First, I want to thank my teammates for another great job today,” Bennett said afterwards. “They worked very hard in this long stage. As we headed into the finale, I started my sprint way too early and Viviani was able to overtake me and took another stage win. I finished third, another podium but of course the victory would have been great.”
In other news, Eddie Dunbar finished fourth on the final stage and a fine eighth overall in the Tour de Yorkshire. The Aqua Blue Sport rider is just 21 years of age and is a major prospect for the future.
Giro d’Italia:
Stage 2, Haifa - Tel Aviv:
1, Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) 167 kilometres in 3 hours 51 mins 20 secs; 2, J. Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia); 3, S. Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe); 4, N. Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida); 5, S. Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale); 6, C. Venturini (AG2R La Mondiale)
Other Irish: 70, R. Mullen (Trek-Segafredo); 89, N. Roche (BMC Racing Team)
Stage 3, Be’er Sheva to Eilat: 1, Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) 229 kilometres in 5 hours 2 mins 9 secs; 2, S. Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale); 3, S. Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe); 4, J. Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia); 5, D. van Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo); 6, J. Debusschere (Lotto Fix All)
Other Irish: 78, R. Mullen (Trek-Segafredo); 82, N. Roche (BMC Racing Team)
General classification after stage 3: 1, Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing Team) at 9:5 mins 30 secs; 2, T. Dumoulin (Team Sunweb) at 1 secs; 3, J. Gonçalves (Katusha-Alpecin 13 secs; 4, A. Dowsett (Katusha-Alpecin) 17 secs; 5, P. Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) at 19 secs; 6, S. Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) at mins 21 secs
Irish: 46, Ryan Mullen (Trek-Segafredo) at 58 secs; 64, S. Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 1 min 12 secs; 69, N. Roche (BMC Racing Team) at 1 min 15 secs
Point classification: 1, Elia Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) 130 pts; 2, S. Modolo (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale) 55; 3, J. Mareczko (Wilier Triestina-Selle Italia) 53; 4, S. Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) 50
