Not many riders have had the same kind of success in their first professional year as Sam Bennett. Having already won the Rund um Köln, the Irishman took his second big win in Germany when he won today's final stage of the Bayern Rundfahrt.

 

Sam Bennett won the sprint in the fifth and final stage of the 35th Bayern Rundfahrt. The 23-year-old native of Ireland from Team NetApp-Endura thus celebrated another victory on German soil after already winning the “Rund um Köln” and being just shy of victory in a photo finish at the Velothon Berlin. After today’s 160 km, he relegated Yauheni Hutarovich (AG2R) and Raymond Kreder (Garmin Sharp) to second and third place in Nuremberg. Bennett also clenched the sprint jersey with his win of the day.

 

Today’s stage no longer impacted the general classification. Geraint Thomas (Sky) won the tour. The top-class German pro cycling team ended the tour with two riders in the top 10 of the general classification: Leopold König, who came in third in the queen stage, finished fourth, and Jan Barta, who had the second fastest ride in the individual time trial, finished sixth. 

 

"The guys did a great job today. Bartosz [Huzarski] looked after me in the peloton during the stage. He made the day a lot easier. Everyone worked well together the whole day and also to help make it a bunch sprint. In the laps Michael [Schwarzmann] looked after me. He did an awesome job in the last kilometer putting me in a good position. It was a very fast and dangerous final. I got a little boxed in between 450-180m to go but the bunch pulled to the left and left the door open. It was really perfect", reports Sam Bennett after the race.

 

“Today our strategy was focused entirely on Sam. The team executed everything very well, especially in the way it neutralized all the attacks during the final laps. Sam completed the preliminary work with a perfect sprint. Congratulations to him and huge compliments to the entire team for a very successful tour. A stage win, podium finishes in the key stages, top rankings in the general classification, and then also winning the sprint jersey – that’s a pretty good result in our home tour,” Enrico Poitschke, Sport Director of Team NetApp-Endura, concluded after the stage win.

 

Nine breakaway riders, including Daniel Schorn from Team NetApp-Endura, dominated the final stage. The group crystallized after a hectic start 20 km after the race got underway. The sprinter teams in the field did not want to take any risks and never let the lead exceed 2:30 minutes. On the first final lap, 50 km before the finish line, the lead had already fallen to under a minute. The 5-km lap in downtown Nuremberg had to be completed ten times. The escapees were caught three laps before the finish line and the field launched numerous attacks. Thanks in part to the chase work done by Team NetApp-Endura, the peloton was once again complete on the final kilometer as it rode at high speed to decide the race in a mass sprint.