Sam Bennett (Bora – Hansgrohe) continued his winning ways today at the Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (2.UWT) when he won the opening 176.7k kilometre stage from Alanya to Kemer. It marked his second WorldTour win this season after his stage win in Paris-Nice back in March.

BORA-hansgrohe showed a strong presence at the front of the field, and along with Trek-Segafredo controlled the race as it headed into the final few kilometres.

Bennett’s sprint train came to the front of the race, with Gregor Mühlberger leading the charge into Kemer, where there was a crash in the peloton. However, there were no serious injuries to report following the incident.

The reduced peloton set a high tempo into the finishing straight, with Alex Saramotins and Shane Archbold the last remaining riders for Bennett.

The Irish rider made a late surge just before the finish and passed through a gap on the right hand side to take an emphatic victory ahead of Marco Benfatto (Androni – Sidermec) and Edward Theuns (Trek – Segafredo).

It was the eighth win of the season for the Irish rider. This season, he has taken victories at Race Melbourne, the Sparkassen Münsterland Giro, two stages of both the Tour of Slovenia and the Czech Cycling Tour in addition to his Paris-Nice stage win.

Bennett also takes the first turquoise leader’s jersey of the race and thanks to his time bonus, leads Benfatto by 4″ with Theuns in third a further 2″ behind. The race continues tomorrow with a 205-kilometre stage from Kumlica to Fethiye.

Results
1 Sam Bennett (Bora – Hansgrohe) 03:57:26
2 Marco Benfatto (Androni – Sidermec)
3 Edward Theuns (Trek – Segafredo)
4 Federico Zurlo (UAE Team Emirates)
5 Matteo Pelucchi (Bora – Hansgrohe)
6 Riccardo Minali (Astana Pro Team)
7 Simone Consonni (UAE Team Emirates)
8 Jonas Koch (CCC Sprandi Polkowice)
9 Manuel Belletti (Wilier Triestina)
10 Eduard Prades (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) all st

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