George Bennett has finished in twelfth position in the fifth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. On the tough final climb, Bennett lost some seconds on his rivals. With two more stages to go, he now finds himself in ninth place in the overall standings.

Sports-director Addy Engels looked back at the stage with a good feeling. “It was a tough one. We had a very strong breakaway and during the whole stage the pace was very high. On the flat parts, even the wind played an important role. Especially in the final local lap the race got shattered”, he said.

“For us it was a good stage”, Engels continued. “Until the final local lap, we had four riders in the front group. In the final lap only George and Primoz were left. Just before the final climb Primoz got a puncture and he wasn’t able to play a role of importance anymore. George finished where we were expecting him to be. Tuesday’s time trial will be decisive for the classification. Tomorrow, the race might end in a sprint and in that case we will try to play Danny van Poppel again.”