Sam Bennett scored the first victory of the season for BORA – ARGON 18 by winning the sixth stage of the Tour of Qatar. The 24-years old Irish won the bunch sprint of the final day and he relegated Andrea Guardini (Astana) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) to the podium places. After riding 113 kilometers from Sealine Beach Resort to Doha Corniche, Bennett completed with confidence the perfect sprint preparation of this new lead-out-train. With his first win of the year, Bennett underlines his strong form in the early part of the season.

“I think so,” said Bennett when asked if this victory was his biggest yet. “There are a lot of riders who would be in the Tour de France in this race. It’s really competitive here.

“It was hectic. However, the lads looked after me today, as they have done all week, and they got me into a really good position before the last corner.

“It was so strung out, but I got on the right wheel. The Astana rider [Guardini] went early, which was perfect, and I was able to go whenever I wanted because nobody else was coming up.

“It’s good for morale. I put pressure on myself, I set out a number of wins for the season, and I have targets I want to achieve by certain points of the season.

“It’s come a bit late for my first win!

"I'm absolutely delighted with the win. The first win of the season is always the hardest and to get it while racing against the world's best makes it that bit more sweeter. The team did a fantastic job today and all week. I would like to thank them!"

“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 kilometer 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”, said Andre Schulze, Sport Director of BORA – ARGON 18.