Sam Bennett is poised to follow in the wheeltracks of Stephen Roche in 1990, appearing set to win the Four Days of Dunkirk overall after a superb performance on Saturday's penultimate stage.
The Carrick-on-Suir rider took his third win in four days, performing strongly on the hilly stage to Cassel and then powering in first ahead of the Frenchman Paul Penhoët (Groupama-FDJ) and the Belgian Jenno Berckmoes (Lotto Dstny).
Bennett’s Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale team impressed in controlling the bunch and then bringing back a dangerous breakaway on the climb towards the finish line with 1.8km remaining.
He paid credit to them after the line. "I think it’s down to my teammates today. They were phenomenal," he said.
"They really made my life easier. It was still difficult, but they made my life easier. I didn’t really have to think about what I had to do, I just had to follow.
"The only time I really had to switch my brain on was in the last 500 metres. The rest was just following, given the responsibility of the guys. I can’t thank them enough. This was really down to good teamwork."
Bennett pushed forward inside the final kilometre, dropping all bar Penhoët and Berckmoes, and then held them off to the line. "We were already on the limit. I saw at one k [kilometre to go], when I turned around, it was really stretched out.
"That gave me more confidence in what I was doing because normally in a bunch sprint, you feel and you hear the guys coming from behind and you judge your sprint from that. But they were really stretched out and there were gaps.
"I knew that the last 400 metres was a bit of a kick [upwards] and afterwards it was corners and downhill and it was going to be very hard to come back. So I did my main sprint at 400 to 200, then I just tried to hang on for dear life."
Having been chasing a victory since last July and enduring considerable frustrations at near-misses, he has shown remarkable form this week. Third on the opening stage, he won stages two and three on Wednesday and Thursday.
He then finished just one inch behind on Friday when breakaway rider Warre Vangheluwe (Soudal Quick-Step) just about held off the bunch.He successfully defended his overall lead and indeed extended his advantage with to the time bonus for the stage win.
Bennett will now begin Sunday’s final flat stage to Dunkirk with a sizeable advantage of 28 seconds over Penhoët. Berckmoes is a further three seconds back.
Could Bennett take a final stage win on Sunday? "It depends if I have any legs yet," he said, "but for sure we try to go again."
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