George Bennett has lost valuable time in the Tour of the Alps’ second stage. After the 28-year-old riders’ seventh place in the first stage, he couldn’t keep up with the favourites on the final climb in the second mountain stage. In the end, Bennett finished about one minute behind stage winner Lopez.

A setback for his general classification ambitions, but the team isn’t worried. “The most important thing is that George can prepare himself for the Giro d’Italia in this race”, sports director Girscha Niermann said. “For a long time, the stage went as planned, although Sepp Kuss crashed. Fortunately, he could continue. George Bennett was our man for the final climb afterwards. He ultimately couldn’t keep up with the favourites, but that wasn’t unexpected after his hard crash before this race. Above all, he has just returned from a high altitude training camp.”

Koen Bouwman finished just before Bennett. “Koen rode really well on the final climb and that offers opportunities for the coming days because the upcoming stage will suit him even better”, Niermann concluded.