Sam Bennett claimed his second victory of this year’s Paris-Nice with a perfectly timed sprint in the fifth stage on Thursday.
Bennett, who won the opening stage on Sunday, benefited from the work of his Deceuninck-Quick Step lead-out train to beat Nacer Bouhanni and Pascal Ackermann.
“The guys were incredible today,” said Bennett. “Some (riders) won’t let me follow my own train for some reason, they don’t concentrate on their own sprint.
“It was a very hard final, I didn’t think I would hold it to the line but I’m proud I finished it off.”
Primoz Roglic retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the 200-km ride between Vienne and Bollene ahead of Maximilian Schachmann.
Stage 6 will take the peloton through the Alpes Maritimes region with a series of climbs halfway through the route.
