Sam Bennett has bounced back after his non-selection for the Tour de France by winning the opening stage of the Sibiu Tour in Romania on Thursday. The Carrick-on-Suir rider unleashed a powerful sprint in the finale of stage one, gapping his rivals on the uphill drag before the finishing straight in Sibiu and taking the win plus the first leader’s jersey.
He beat Lotto Dstny duo Milan Menten and Michael Schwarzmann plus the rest of the main field. Bennett is now two seconds clear at the top of the general classification, with Daniel Turek (ATT Investments) second overall courtesy of time bonuses.
“It wasn’t an easy day because both the heat and the difficult finish made the race especially tough,” he said. “My team-mates worked all day to bring back the escapees. For that I want to thank them a lot, especially because it was very important for me to win here today.
“Tomorrow, in the hard mountain finish, I will then try to give that support back and help the team as much as I can.”
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Team sports director Jens Zemke said that the team is under pressure to deliver at the race.
“We are the only WorldTeam competing here, so there is a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. But the boys did a great job. In the end, Sam was also delivered perfectly for the sprint. Hats off to Sam for performing so well here. It was really a great start. Tomorrow’s mountain finish will be tough, but we already know the course from previous years.”
While the 2.1-ranked race is nothing like the same scale as the Tour de France, Bennett’s win is still important as it shows his team that he would have been in fine shape for the Tour.
He was controversially overlooked when it named its eight riders for the French event. Bennett had fully expected to be selected and told The Irish Times recently that he was convinced he would have been at 100 per cent for the race.
He won two stages plus the green jersey the last time he competed in the Tour, back in 2020.
Bennett is in a contract year and could potentially end up moving to a different team after his non-selection for the Tour. Clocking up wins in the coming weeks will be important in ensuring he has the best possible deal for 2024 and beyond.
Thursday’s win was his second this season. The next two days are for the climbers but Sunday’s final stage could potentially end in another bunch sprint.
