Psyched following two consecutive stage victories at the Vuelta a España, Sam Bennett will continue his campaign on Tuesday when the race restarts in Vitoria-Gasteiz.
The riders had an early rest day on Monday to facilitate the transfer of competitors, staff and vehicles from the Netherlands, and will now embark on what will be a hillier block of the race. Tuesday’s 152.5km stage to Laguardia acts as a transition between the previous flatter stages and the more mountainous ones. It is undulating, including a category two and a category three climb, as well as a short, steep uphill drag to the finish line.
When Bennett is fully aerobically fit such stages can suit his abilities much better than pure sprinters but, with his form likely still building, he told The Irish Times on Monday he’s not quite sure how it will go.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said, speaking of his chances. “I’m missing a bit of sleep after the last two days, so I feel tired. But you never know on the day. Hopefully I’ll be good this week.”
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Bennett is in the green jersey of points leader and, just as he did in the Tour de France two years ago, has set winning this competition as an additional goal for the race. Chasing more stages wins will be the primary objective, though.
Meanwhile, Archie Ryan was the best placed Irish rider on stage four of the Tour de l’Avenir in France on Monday. He finished in a reduced main bunch at the end of a chaotic day marked by several crashes. The day’s breakaway stayed clear with British rider Thomas Gloag first to the line. Ryan finished in the chasing group 36 seconds behind, rolling in 18th, while the next rider on the Irish team, Darren Rafferty, was 16 seconds further back. Ryan is up 12 places to 17th overall, but the climbing specialist will have much better opportunities when the race moves to hiller terrain from Friday to its conclusion on Sunday.
He showed strong form on stage three when he was involved in a small break with about 10km to go, but the group was, however, reeled in 3km from the finish. Rafferty was involved in a break the previous day and while these too were hauled back by the bunch, he ended up with the most aggressive rider award for the stage. He is currently 8th overall in the best climber classification.
Both he and Ryan are among the most promising young riders in Irish cycling. The Tour de l’Avenir is regarded as the under-23 version of the Tour de France.
