Following on from his first win of the season at the Tour of Qatar, Sam Bennett’s Directeur Sportif explained how they changed their lead out plan for the stage.
The 24 year old Irishman won the bunch sprint of the final 113 kilometre stage from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, relegating Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) to the podium places.
Andrea Schulze said afterwards, “Today was the last chance to score a stage win and that gave us the extra motivation. Even though we modified our lead-out a bit, all riders played an important role for winning the stage.”
“We knew that a big lead-out-train with all riders will be less successful. So we concentrated completely on the last kilometre and we placed just two, three riders there for Sam. And it worked out perfectly. Zak Dempster guided him to the wheel of Tom Boonen where he was positioned perfectly. So, Sam could just launch his sprint and win”
