Sam Bennett wins Clásica de Almería
Netapp rider takes first professional win
23-year-old Irishman Sam Bennett (Team NetApp – Endura) claimed his first professional win by out sprinting Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar) and Davide Vigano (Caja Rural) at the Clásica de Almería. The 29th edition of the race at 178 kilometres saw a break of seven riders get away but their advantage never went above 2:30 minutes. The break was caught with 50km to race and with 20km to race the winning break, which included four NetApp Endura riders, went away and built a one minute on the chasing peloton.
"The guys got me perfectly to about 600m to go. I was well position in the last corner. I had to go at 250m because the pace dropped. I came around everyone and took the inside line. At 100m to go my legs started to buckle and I thought I wasn't going to make it. But luckily I did," Sam Bennett said after his first professional win.
"I am so happy to have taken my first win as a pro with Team NetApp – Endura. It was a very nice race today great weather and great roads. Movistar set a nice hard tempo on the climbs and split it in the final with cross winds. It was good for me because it tired everyone else out and got rid of other sprinters. I want to thank all of my team mates who helped me every single chance they got. They really made my job easier and for sure this result came as a result of great team work", Bennett said
"I am very happy with today's results. An early win is so important for motivating the team. Our guys put in a great team performance yesterday, and today they even managed to surpass that effort. Iker Camano, Tiago Machado, and Erick Rowsell aren't usually Sam's lead-out riders," said Alex Sans Vega, Sport Director of Team NetApp – Endura.
"That is why I am all the more pleased that everything worked so perfectly today and that Sam is able to rely on all of his teammates. I hope that we will be able to maintain this level, the atmosphere in the team and this racing style for our upcoming races," Vega said.
Once the gun was fired, riders were launching multiple attacks at the start of the race which formed the main break of seven after 15 kilometres. The peloton never lost control and after the final climb, 50 kilometres before the finish line, the field all came back together.
The breakaway riders were caught soon thereafter and the field headed towards the finish line as one. The day’s winning break group pulled away 20 kilometres before the finish line with 19 riders and with support from his three teammates, Sam Bennett was able to conserve valuable energy for the final kilometres and win the sprint.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Sam Bennett (Irl) Team Netapp - Endura | 4:21:33 |
2 | Juan Jose Lobato Del Valle (Spa) Movistar Team | |
3 | Davide Vigano (Ita) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
4 | Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team | |
5 | Stéphane Poulhies (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
6 | Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:00:02 |
7 | Bartlomiej Matysiak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
8 | Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
9 | Tiago Machado (Por) Team Netapp - Endura | 0:00:06 |
10 | Davide Rebellin (Ita) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
11 | David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
12 | Lukasz Bodnar (Pol) Activejet Team | |
13 | Luis Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
14 | Jerome Coppel (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
15 | Iker Camano Ortuzar (Spa) Team Netapp - Endura | |
16 | Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Movistar Team | |
17 | Erick Rowsell (GBr) Team Netapp - Endura | 0:00:13 |
18 | Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:00:53 |
19 | Pablo Lastras Garcia (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:01:00 |
20 | Rafael Silva (Por) Efapel - Glassdrive | 0:02:42 |
21 | Carlos Ivan Oyarzun Guinez (Chi) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
22 | Filipe Duarte Sousa Cardoso (Por) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
23 | Marek Rutkiewicz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:02:44 |
24 | Lukasz Owsian (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
25 | Raul Alarcon Garcia (Spa) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
26 | Pawel Franczak (Pol) Activejet Team | |
27 | Antonio Piedra Perez (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
28 | Víctor De La Parte (Spa) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
29 | Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
30 | Ibai Salas (Spa) Burgos-BH | 0:02:58 |
31 | Emanuel Piaskowy (Pol) Activejet Team | |
32 | Michal Podlaski (Pol) Activejet Team | 0:03:03 |
33 | Salvador Guardiola Tora (Spa) Pinoroad | 0:03:36 |
34 | Raul Garcia De Mateo Rubio (Spa) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
35 | Martin Lestido (Spa) | |
36 | Christophe Laporte (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
37 | Micael Isidoro (Por) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
38 | Victor Martin Hernandez (Spa) Burgos-BH | |
39 | Edwig Cammaerts (Bel) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
40 | José Joao Pimenta Costa Mendes (Por) Team Netapp - Endura | |
41 | Carlos Barbero Cuesta (Spa) Euskadi | |
42 | Antonio Molina (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
43 | Vicente Garcia De Mateos Rubio (Spa) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
44 | Miguel Minguez Ayala (Spa) Euskadi | |
45 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Team Netapp - Endura | |
46 | Frantisek Padour (Cze) Team Netapp - Endura | |
47 | Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team | |
48 | Higinio Fernandez (Spa) Team Ecuador | |
49 | Bruno Duarte Ferreira Silva (Por) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
50 | Yohan Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
51 | Branislau Samoilau (Blr) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
52 | Adrian Honkisz (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | |
53 | Jorge Martin Montenegro (Arg) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
54 | Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
55 | José Herrada Lopez (Spa) Movistar Team | |
56 | Grzegorz Stepniak (Pol) CCC Polsat Polkowice | 0:05:32 |
57 | Tomasz Mickiewicz (Pol) Activejet Team | |
58 | Samuel Nicolás (Spa) | |
59 | Francisco Javier Moreno Allue (Spa) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
60 | Rui Vinhas (Por) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
61 | Eugeniu Cozonac (Mda) Louletano - Dunas Douradas | |
62 | Haritz Orbe Urrutia (Spa) Euskadi | |
63 | Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Euskadi | |
64 | Bayron Guama De La Cruz (Ecu) Team Ecuador | |
65 | Pablo Lechuga Rodriguez (Spa) Euskadi | |
66 | Romain Hardy (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
67 | Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskadi | |
68 | Jaume Rovira Pous (Spa) Team Ecuador | |
69 | Mario Gonzalez Salas (Spa) Activejet Team | |
70 | Igor Merino Cortazar (Spa) Burgos-BH | |
71 | Illart Zuazubiskar Gallastegi (Spa) Euskadi | 0:13:55 |
72 | Ricardo Mestre (Por) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
73 | Federico Butto (Ita) Burgos-BH | |
74 | Marcos Altur Boronat (Spa) | |
75 | Henry Marcelo Velasco Cevallos (Ecu) Team Ecuador | |
76 | Isaac Carbonell Rabat (Spa) Team Ecuador | |
77 | Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
78 | Konrad Dabkowski (Pol) Activejet Team | |
79 | Jose Ragonessi (Ecu) Team Ecuador | |
80 | Unai Arranz Alonso (Spa) Burgos-BH | |
81 | Segundo Navarrete (Ecu) Team Ecuador | |
82 | Álvaro Martínez (Spa) | |
83 | Mikel Aristi Gardoki (Spa) Euskadi | |
84 | Imanol Estévez (Spa) | 0:15:45 |
DNF | Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
DNF | Ramon Domene Reyes (Spa) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA | |
DNF | Javier Moreno Bazan (Spa) Movistar Team | |
DNF | Diego Leon Cuervo Zambraro (Spa) Burgos-BH | |
DNF | Ander Arranz Alonso (Spa) Burgos-BH | |
DNF | Alvaro Cuadros Morata (Spa) Etixx | |
DNF | Antonio Jesus Soto (Spa) | |
DNF | Diego Rubio (Spa) Efapel - Glassdrive | |
DNF | Pablo Miguel Hidalgo Vega (Ecu) Team Ecuador | |
DNF | Slawomir Chrzanowski (Pol) Activejet Team |

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