Sam Bennett continued to show strong early-season form on Thursday, finishing fourth on stage four of the Tour of Qatar and moving up the general classification in the process.
Riding for his Bora Argon 18 squad, the Carrick-on-Suir rider was delayed early on by a puncture, but worked his way back up to the frontrunners and then pushed forward as part of a select group. He put in a bid to win the stage but was too far back when the sprint started.
Team Katusha's Alexander Kristoff had no such problems, being placed in the right position by his team prior to beating Greg Van Avermaet (BMC Racing Team) for the win.
Bennett may take consolation from the fact that he outsprinted 26-time Tour de France stage winner Mark Cavendish for fourth, but his main focus will be on Friday's final stage and trying to repeat his victory of 12 months ago.
The off-season was a good one for Bennett, who put in good work from his base in Monaco. He showed the benefits of that when he finished second in his first race of the year, the Trofeo Felanitx in Mallorca, and was fourth three days later in the Trofeo Playa de Palma.
Another fourth-place finish occurred in this week’s opening stage in Qatar. While he crashed in the finale of stage two and was unable to sprint, he put in a solid showing in Wednesday’s time trial and ended the day eighth overall.
He then moved up another place on Thursday. He will begin the final stage seventh, 41 seconds behind Cavendish. The latter took the yellow jersey after team-mate Edvald Boasson Hagen punctured and lost time.
Time bonuses are up for grabs at intermediate sprints and also in the final gallop, giving Bennett and his team further encouragement to keep the pressure on.
Redisplay form
Next up for the rider will be the Tour of
Oman
, which begins next Tuesday and runs until Sunday February 21st. Etixx-QuickStep rider
Dan Martin
will also be competing there, and will hope to redisplay the form which earned him a stage win in the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana earlier this month.
Finally, the route of this year’s An Post Rás will be unveiled next Wednesday. The world-ranked event is Ireland’s toughest race and will take place this year between May 22nd and 29th.
