George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) surprised nobody more than himself on Friday after taking the Tour of California yellow jersey, but the Kiwi only took a few moments to celebrate his success before regrouping and focusing on the winning the general classification.
Bennett successfully fended off multiple attacks from Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac), Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Brent Bookwalter (BMC Racing) during the hilly 125km stage from Mountain High Resort to Pasadena to win the GC classification of the 12th Amgen Tour of California.
"I had a few hours last night to let it sink in, then it clicked over to business time," Bennett said. "We had a job on our hands today, and we were up to the task. It feels pretty special today, I believe it now."
ADVERTISEMENT
The opening kilometres of the race, which began in the San Gabriel Mountains, descended a twisting and at times steep mountain road. An early crash in the opening kilometres of the descent, involving Taylor Phinney (Cannondale-Drapac) and Juraj Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), required Bennett to step in as the peloton's patron and neutralise the field.
After 10km of calm the peloton took up the charge and attacks began to fly. The day's breakaway jumped away on the first KOM climb and stayed away to the line, giving Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling) the win. Back in the field, Bennett and the LottoNL-Jumbo team were forced to keep the break in check because it contained Lachlan Morton, who was only 2:20 down in the GC and fend off attacks from Bora, BMC and Cannondale-Drapac.
"Talansky hit me like 10 times, he wouldn't' stop," Bennett said. "Him and Bookwalter had a little arrangement. Talansky kept hitting it and looking back and waiting for Brent.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2rFy9Yg
No comments:
Post a Comment