Sam Bennett gets caught on wrong side of Tour de France bunch sprint

Sam Bennett failed to feature in the first big bunch sprint of this year’s Tour de France after getting caught on the wrong side of a key split during a crucial part of yesterday’s race.

The Bora Argon 18 man finished almost 14 minutes down on stage winner Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal) and will rue not being in the front group as he’s beaten many of those who contested the finish.

Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo) and Mark Cavendish (Etixx-QuickStep) rounded out the podium on the fifth stage of the 189km race from Arras to Amiens. Bennett’s teammate and normally his leadout man, Zak Dempster, found himself up towards the front coming to the line but had to settle for 12th after he was boxed in on the finishing straight.

Of the other Irish contingent, Dan Martin (Garmin Cannondale) had a somewhat more stress-free day than Tuesday when he coasted over the line towards the back of the main bunch.

He was 60th on the stage in the same time as stage winner Greipel and is now 34th overall, still at 7:52.

Elsewhere, Nicolas Roche (Team Sky) took a tumble early on in but remounted and crossed the line in 96th place at 1:18 and is now 60th overall at 13:36.

Bennett meanwhile, is in 174th place at 45:34 and will hope for better on today’s stage, a 191km trek from Abbeville to Le Havre which features three category four climbs.

Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) finished safely in the peloton with all of the main overall contenders to maintain his overall lead.

The German sits 12 seconds ahead of Chris Froome (Team Sky) with American Tejay Van Garderen (BMC Racing team) a further 13 seconds back.

Meanwhile, Cycling Ireland named a new-look four-man team to take part in the Junior Tour of Ireland which starts on Tuesday in Ennis, Co Clare. The six-day event clashes with the European Junior and U23 Track Championships in Athens, Greece, meaning some of the country’s best juniors will not be able to compete.

However, the unfortunate timing has opened the door for Simon Tuomey (Cork Giant), Jake Gray (NRPT-Magnet.ie), Marc Heaney (Carn Wheelers) and Darragh O’Mahony (O’Leary’s Stone Kanturk CC).

Tuomey and O’Mahony would have pushed close for the team anyway, such has been their form over the last 18 months, with both taking some big scalps along the way.

Gray has been in superb form of late. He won the Newry 3-Day last weekend while Heaney has taken a couple of impressive wins up north this year.

Though he’ll be the first to admit his place on the team is because more established juniors like Michael O’Loughlin, Declan Mulholland, Adam Stenson and Cathal Clarke have been selected for track duty.