Irishman Sam Bennett beat Italians Giacomo Nizzolo and Alberto Dainese in a sprint finish to take the inaugural Race Torquay title in Victoria, Australia, today.
The event consisted of 10 clockwise laps of an undulating 13.3km circuit.
Sam Bennett claimed the inaugural Race Torquay title in Victoria, Australia, today. Photo: Tim De Waele/Getty Images
“This success makes me very happy and feeds my confidence ahead of Sunday, when I hope to again be up there with a shot at victory,” said the Deceuninck-Quick-Step’s rider, referring to the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.
“The credit goes to the team who again did a great job and were always there for me.”
Bennett said after an aggressive start things became pretty controlled, so he asked the guys to make it harder and kick off the race again.
“That’s when Dries [Devenyns] went and forced the others to chase. It all came together later and I got an armchair ride to the line.
“I like the course and the length of the race, even though it was harder than advertised as it has a bit of everything for everyone. Winning this event after being elevated to UCI status gives me a lot of satisfaction,” said Bennett, who excelled at Race Torquay twice before when it used to be a criterium.
View more results below.
Results
| 1 | Sam Bennett | IRL | Deceuninck-Quick-Step | 3:01:26 |
| 2 | Giacomo Nizzolo | ITA | NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 3 | Alberto Dainese | ITA | Team Sunweb | |
| 4 | Kaden Groves | AUS | Mitchelton-Scott | |
| 5 | Michael Morkov | DEN | Deceuninck-Quick-Step | |
| 6 | Marc Sarreau | FRA | Groupama-FDJ | |
| 7 | Andrea Vendrame | ITA | AG2R La Mondiale | |
| 8 | Mads Pedersen | DEN | Trek-Segafredo | |
| 9 | Roger Kluge | GER | Lotto Soudal | |
| 10 | Elia Viviani | ITA | Cofidis |
*Selected
| 20 | Ryan Gibbons | NTT Pro Cycling | |
| 76 | Stefan de Bod | NTT Pro Cycling | +0:00:54 |
| 97 | Daryl Impey | Mitchelton-Scott | +0:08:19 |
