George Bennett has done well in the general classification in the queen stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. He climbed to the seventh place. The New Zealander rode a strong final with a surprise attack in the last kilometre. On the finish line he only had stage winner Mikel Landa and Rafal Majka finish in front of him.

Sports director Addy Engels thought Bennett's attack was fantastic. “It seemed like he was having a hard time, but he closed in on the escapees at once. That he didn’t win is a pity, but this was a super achievement. We are going to support him in the coming stages so that he will not drop in the ranking. It must have been good for George to be back racing with the best.”

The New Zealander confirmed this. “It was a long time ago that I was as good as today during a European race. Primoz Roglic and I were helped well by the team and we were well positioned on the last climb.”

Roglic crashed with eight kilometres left to race, but that did not affect Bennett. “I saw it happen out of the corner of my eye, but I was very focused on myself.”

That worked out well in the last kilometre. "It was a super-explosive final. It's a pity that I ran short to win the stage. That has to do with the fact that I haven’t ridden many races yet. But my shape gets better with every race. I'm already looking forward to tomorrow, when my teammates will help me as well as today. I'll do everything I can to stay out of trouble. I do not want to lose any time in the GC this Tirreno.”