Sam Bennett took his second stage of the Tour of Slovenia today as his BORA – hansgrohe team dominated the race as Rafal Majka secured the overall victory.
Again, a leading group went up the road early in the stage. The 6 escapees increased their gap to about 5 minutes, but BORA – hansgrohe controlled the pace in the peloton and when the other sprinter teams also started helping at the front, the gap started to come down gradually.
In the last 15 kilometres, all breakaway riders were caught, as the peloton rode towards a tricky 5k finishing circuit.
BORA – hansgrohe came to the front late, as Rudi Selig moved up with Sam Bennett at the perfect moment. Bennett opened the sprint from the front and secured his 2nd stage win ahead of Mark Cavendish (Dimension Date). This resulted in the team taking 3 stages and the overall victory. Bennett and Majka also won the sprint and the mountains classification of the race.
Sam Bennett – “We worked the whole day for the jersey of Rafa, therefore I didn’t have a lot of guys for the sprint today. But Rudi brought us up in the perfect moment, we took the outside on the penultimate corner, to be inside on the last one. On the bridge, we were in front and I did let a little gap to come with full speed out of his slipstream on the last 200m. We can be very proud of the team this week, it was a perfect performance from all of us!”
Christian Pömer, Directeur Sportif – “It was hard today for us to go for both goals, protecting Rafa in the GC and taking on the sprint with Sam. After his crash two days ago, this final was made for Sam, and we wanted him to get another chance. So, in the end everything worked perfectly for us and our 6 helpers, who sacrificed themselves the whole race, were the key to success. We dominated the whole week, I am really proud of the boys. And to beat Cavendish in the end also doesn’t happen every day.”
