They got off easy with Bennett. He was able to win pretty much on his own by surfing wheels and when he did have a leadout, it was Archibold, who he took with him. Ackerman is fast but he needs better support.
I’m a bit more concerned about Ackermann’s form than that. Yes, he has always been more dependent on team support than more skilled wheelsurfers, but he hasn’t looked good this year even when they have put him in the right place.
but Bennett also barely gained a meter on Philipsen..
That’s not quite accurate, Bennett was going quite a lot faster at the end. Not that that means that he was better on the day - sprinting mostly isn’t a drag race and Bennett was coming out of the slipstream, so he should be going faster.
The race was Philipsen’s to lose as soon as Rickaert* buried Morkov and as a bonus forced Bennett to break. Nobody should be able to come round a top sprinter from that position. Not Bennett, not Ewan, not Groenewegen. Bennett is more often put in that kind of position by QS/Morkov.
It’s not taking anything away from Philipsen to note that sprinting is a team activity and positioning is at least as important as speed (just ask Cees Bol about that one). Philipsen is clearly on his way into the elite and is much younger than those rivals.
*It was Rickaert, right? I can’t say that I’ve really noticed him much but I think that was the best leadout this year by anyone not named Morkov and it was up there with Morkov’s best.
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