Sam Bennett takes Tour Down Under opening stage

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Report

Sam Bennett and Deceuninck-QuickStep delivered victory on their first WorldTour opportunity on Tuesday at the Tour Down Under, with the Irish road race champion winning the stage 1 sprint in Taununda ahead of Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) and Erik Baska (Bora-Hansgrohe).

Bennett's new Belgian team took over in the final kilometre after a chaotic run-in to the line that saw no team able to establish control on the front of the peloton. Deceuninck-QuickStep waited as other teams came forward and were swamped or faded, then pounced in the final kilometre as Iljo Keisse guided Bennett and crew toward the line.

Bennet launched first of the sprinters and gained an immediate advantage over his rivals, as Sunday's Schwalbe Classic winner Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal) started from too far back in the bunch and Elia Viviani (Cofidis) could only manage fourth behind Baska. Israel Start-up Nation's Andre Greipel was fifth.

Philipsen was the only rider to nearly get back on terms with Bennett, as the young Belgian fought to regain his footing and nearly pulled off the win at the line. But it was Bennett by half a wheel at the end of the first WorldTour race of 2020.

"I think it was definitely a job of the team. I think it's the reason why I won today and I'd be lying if I didn't feel the pressure coming to Deceuninck-Quick-Step to get that first win," Bennett said. 

"The guys did an absolutely fantastic job and kept me in position. Every one of them played a superb role today and I can't thank them enough."

How it unfolded

The 150km opening stage in Tanunda consisted of five laps around a 30km circuit that included two intermediate sprints at 15km and 75km, offering time bonuses to the top three. Also on offer were two King of the Mountain sprints on Breakneck Hill at 46km into the day and again at at 106.9km.

The peloton rolled out from the start under clear skies and mild temperatures, but the racing would quickly heat things up as 2019 champion Daryl Impey and his Mitchelton-Scott team looked to set the South African up to take the three-second time bonus at the first sprint. The team's pace discouraged any attacks, and Impey backed up his teammates' effort by collecting the maximum time bonus.

The peloton eased back slightly after the sprint, and four riders took advantage of the lull to slip away. In the move were CCC Team's Joey Rosskopf, Team Sunweb's Michael Storer, NTT Pro Cycling's Dylan Sunderland, and UniSA rider Jarrad Drizners, who recently signed with US team Hagens Berman Axeon.

The quartet quickly built a gap of nearly four minutes before the sprinters' teams back in the bunch took control and brought things down to a more manageable gap of two minutes and change.

Drizners made his intentions for the day clear when he struck out at the first KOM and took maximum points, then lit out again at the second intermediate sprint at 75km and won there as well. That was enough to send Rosskopf off on a solo adventure as the pack had closed to nearly a minute of the escapees.

The two-time and reigning US time trial champion opened the gap up to 1:30 and, as his former breakaway companions faded back into the bunch, the peloton appeared happy to let Rosskopf dangle off the front and collect his KOM tally.

The 30-year-old American hung on indeed, and tied on points with Drizners in the KOM classification, which would ultimately be decided by the two riders' position at the finish of the stage.

The peloton finally made the catch of Rosskopf with just under 35km to go, and from there it was a hustle among the sprinters' teams to maintain the status quo to the finish and not let another dangerous group of escapees flee.

Lotto Soudal sent Thomas De Gendt to the front to hammer out a pace that discouraged attacks, and the tactic seemed to work as the bunch approached the final 10km intact.

Teams battled back and forth to establish control, but in the end it was Deceuninck-QuickStep that came forward when it mattered most, with Keisse giving way in the final kilometre to Shane Archbold before Danish road race champion Michael Mørkøv dropped off his sprinter Bennett for the victory.

Results

General classification