Fourth place finish for Tipperary cyclist Sam Bennett in sprint finish in UAE Tour

Carrick on Suir cyclist Sam Bennett came fourth on the fiflh stage of the UAE Tour in the middle east.

The 181 kilometres from Flag Island to Khor Fakkan on the east coast brought with them very so slightly uphill terrain, while the second part of the race, apart from a small ascent shortly before the finish, was almost exclusively flat.

The stage offered yet another chance for the sprinters in the peloton to notch up a stage victory, but this would be no easy feat, with several of the peloton’s fastest sprinters in attendance at the race this year.

At around midday, the riders took off in the direction of Khor Fakkan and it did not take long until a five-man group was able to stretch the elastic and form the break of the day. During the stage, the peloton conceded no more than 4:30 to the leading quintet, and with 70km remaining to ride in the saddle, the main field upped the tempo somewhat, and the advantage of the break was whittled away until the last escapee was ultimately caught.

With 20km remaining, the teams of the sprinters slowly emerged at the front of the main field to position themselves well ahead of the expected fast finish, and after the first roundabout the peloton increased the tempo significantly. The BORA – hansgrohe sprint train began to move to the front to bring Sam Bennett into a suitable position from which to launch his sprint.

In an extremely close sprint finish, E. Viviani won ahead of F. Gaviria. Sam Bennett only very closely missed out on the podium, and took out fourth place. 

Bennett said after the race -

“Today we made a plan and stuck by it. We did everything to the best of our abilities and that’s all we could do. I had the legs, the backing of the team, and a great position in the final. The level is so high and some very small things have a big impact. Unfortunately I didn’t get the win today. I’d like to thank the team for their efforts.”