Sam Bennett showed promising speed on stage four of the Giro d’Italia on Tuesday but was left frustrated after being blocked in during the final sprint. He tried to follow race leader Mads Pedersen when the Dane launched his sprint but was briefly hemmed in by another rider.
Once space opened up Bennett rapidly closed in on those in front of him but had to stop sprinting when Pedersen drifted towards the roadside banner.
Bennett placed sixth behind the winner Casper van Uden. He rued a split-second decision not to follow his Decathlon AG2R la Mondiale leadout man Tord Gudmestad.
“The first sprint of a grand tour is always chaotic,” said Bennett.
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“We got into a good enough position, into the last left hand bend Tord came up on the inside. I should have followed him but I saw Pedersen starting to go. I thought, ‘I’ll follow this and hopefully it opens’ and it never opened up.”
Bennett has changed his training approach under guidance from his coach Stephen Barrett. They have favoured more high torque work, something from which he can take encouragement based on his speed in his constrained sprint on Tuesday.
He will hope for a clearer run to the line on Thursday’s stage, which is expected to be the next opportunity for a big sprint. For now though he wishes he made a different decision on Tuesday.
“It was my misjudgement, I should have followed Tord,” he said. “We said at the beginning that we would keep following each other. It never opened up for me. It was my mistake.”
Pedersen continues to lead the race overall.
