Tipperary's Sam Bennett claimed yet another stage at the Tour of Turkey this afternoon after a lung-busting finish saw him cross the line first in Eceabat.
The Irishman rode to victory in yesterday's opening day of the tour, and although the race seemed beyond him coming into the final few hundred metres, Bennett came from nowhere to sprint away from the bunch coming up to the line.
Uphill sprinting? No problem for @Sammmy_Be 😎
It's another stage victory for the @BORAhansgrohe rider who makes it 2/2 in Turkey! 👏#TUR2019 pic.twitter.com/zfNlIqIdsC— Eurosport (@eurosport) April 17, 2019
Today's stage had a tricky finish for a sprinter like Bennett, with numerous winding corners and fluctuating gradients to deal with. But Bennett navigated his way through the final few kilometres almost effortlessly as he pedalled to victory, cementing his position atop the General and Points Classification tables.
Speaking to Eurosport after his second stage win in as many days, the 28-year-old said:
The thing that was most difficult there was to keep patient. The roads were really narrow and then Posty (Lukas Pöstlberger) went; it was a great move. I had good legs in the final and we had 1-2; it was great
The guys did an amazing job into the bottom of the climb and I think that was critical. Really good work by the whole team.
It was OK (the last few kilometres) because I can do hard accelerations repeatedly and that's kind of what it was, with the corners and the change of gradients. It suited me really well actually. I was surprised. I was up for it but I didn't know if i would get it or not.
The Bora–Hansgrohe man is back in the saddle again tomorrow for the third stage of the tour from Çanakkale to Edremit, a 122.6km route.
The tour continues until this Sunday when the final stage brings the peloton back to Istanbul.
