Having clocked up no less than five top-10 finishes in his first two races as a pro rider, Sam Bennett broke his duck yesterday in terms of landing his first victory, taking the Clásica de Almeria in Spain.

The NetApp Endura competitor came home first at the end of a hard-fought 178-kilometre race, having weathered the onslaught thrown up by the Movistar team which was aware of the threat he posed.

Despite launching his sprint early and fading in the headwind before the line, he was clearly fastest at the end of the 1.1 world-ranked race. He finished well clear of Juan Jose Lobato (Movistar), Davide Vigano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and the others in the front group.

"I thought we were going into the race unknown, but Movistar actually knew me . . . I was surprised at that," he told The Irish Times modestly, playing down past results such as his stage win last year in the Tour of Britain. "They were trying to make it hard on the climbs for me, but I was actually quite comfortable. I surprised myself."

High pace
While the high pace didn't put Bennett in trouble, it helped his chances as many other sprinters were shelled out the back on the climbs and also when the bunch broke up. "Coming in towards the finish, there were really strong crosswinds coming in from the sea. I was in the perfect position and it split straight away. I was pretty comfortable in those crosswinds . . . after the Tour of Qatar, it didn't seem that bad," he said, referring to the first race he rode since turning pro with the team.

“My team did a great job – they went a little early before the sprint but they put the race in the gutter and Movistar had to go in the wind. I could see people coming on the right and somebody coming on the left. I went early, jumping at 250 metres and taking the inside line into the final right-hand bend.

“When I got around that corner there was a block headwind; at 100 metres to go I thought, ‘right, I am not going to hold this’, as my legs started to buckle, but I held them off.”

Still only 23 years of age, Bennett stepped up from the An Post Chainreaction Seán Kelly team after winning that stage of the Tour of Britain last September. He is the country’s best sprinting prospect in many years.

Meanwhile Irish riders continued to ride well elsewhere; Matt Brammeier retained his King of the Mountains and sprints jerseys in the Tour de Langkawi, while Caroline Ryan finished off a very solid Irish campaign at the track world championships when she was sixth in the women’s points race. Martyn Irvine took the squad’s best result with silver in the men’s scratch race, while Ryan Mullen was fourth in the individual pursuit.