Bennett, who won the opening stage on Tuesday and finished fourth on another uphill finish yesterday, began today on the same time as stage two winner Victor Guernalec (Arkéa-B&B Hôtels) and had to fend off attacks from the Frenchman’s team throughout today’s undulating 166km stage.
With the final attacker only reeled in with 1100m to go, Bennett was left with just one teammate in a dwindling front group. On the long drag to the finish, he managed to grind his way to the front in the final 150 metres and had enough power to hold on and clinch his fourth victory of the season for his French based Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale team.
“I know that when my form isn’t too bad, I’m capable of performing on these types of finishes,” he said afterwards of the climb to the line.
“I had to fight really hard, but luck was on my side today because there was a headwind on the steepest part of the final climb, which allowed me to stay in the wheels more easily. I was very close to cracking with 300m to go but I told myself that everyone was suffering. I kept telling myself that if someone wanted to take the jersey from me, they were going to have to come and get me.”
Afterwards, such was the strain of his efforts that Bennett ended up prone on the ground for a few minutes, trying to catch his breath as team staff poured cold water over him, something he wasn’t too pleased with himself for doing.
“I hate it because guys usually do it for the cameras,” he laughed of his collapse.
“I avoid it as much as possible, but this time, I really had no choice. I couldn’t stand up anymore. Yesterday was pretty tough. I’d already suffered a lot. I thought I’d already gone too deep yesterday but I think it was maybe even a bit tougher today.
“It was more explosive this time because there were fewer sections to recover. I tried to show myself up front to show them I was there but, there were times when I backed off because I thought it was wiser to be forgotten, especially since there were only myself and Noa (Isidore) left in the group from the team but it worked out today.”
Having begun the stage tied on time in the race leader’s yellow jersey, Bennett consolidated his overall lead with a ten second time bonus at the line today and now leads the race overall by 14 seconds from Henri Ulag of Alpecin-Deceuninck with Ewan Costiou (Arkea – B&B Hotels) third at 16 seconds. The Carrick-On-Suir man also leads the points competition and will be hoping to hold onto both jerseys on tomorrow’s final stage.
“That’s the goal, but we’re still going to have to force ourselves,” he said. “We had to play smart today, but it’s not over yet.”
Compatriot Dillon Corkery lost over four minutes on today’s tough route but will be looking forward to another chance of a bunch sprint finish tomorrow.