Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) notched up his second victory in as many days when he claimed stage 2 of the BinckBank Tour in Ardooie. The Irish champion beat Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates) and Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) to the line and thus retains the overall lead. The surfeit of sprint options at Bora-Hansgrohe meant that Bennett missed selection for both the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France this year, but he has responded to that disappointment in exemplary fashion, and has now amassed ten victories in 2019, eight of them at WorldTour level. Bennett's positioning, decision-making and finishing speed meant that his victory in Ardooie brooked no argument. Mindful of the strength of the Jumbo-Visma lead-out, he parked himself on Groenewegen's wheel on the run-in, but then had the nous to respond promptly when Philipsen streaked past in the finishing straight. In the final 100 metres, Bennett pulled away to seal a resounding victory.ADVERTISEMENT "I can't believe it. After 70k my legs weren't that great, so I didn't expect to get a result today," Bennett said afterwards. "But the guys protected me so well all day. I was saving so much energy and the others were losing so much, that in the end I had enough legs to get a win. I'm delighted with that, I didn't think I'd get a second win." The flat, 170km run from Blankenberge lent itself to a bunch sprint, but when the race came here a year ago, Jasper Stuyven defied the fast men with a canny late move. In Stuyven's absence, Trek-Segafredo were again prominent in the finale, though this time in an apparent attempt to set up Mads Pedersen for the sprint. Edward Theuns, second on Monday, led out the sprint from distance but to no avail. Jumbo-Visma's Mike Teunissen hit the front within sight of the line, but his teammate Groenewegen never hit his stride in the finishing straight and had to settle for a distant third behind Bennett and Philipsen. How it unfolded
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