ATOC: George Bennett claims historic win at WorldTour race

A day after lifting the yellow leaders jersey from stage 2 winner and heavy pre-race favourite Rafał Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), New Zealand’s George Bennett made history by becoming the first Kiwi to top the final general classification at a UCI WorldTour event claimed Cycling New Zealand in an official post-race media release.

The 27-year-old LottoNL-Jumbo rider took 41 seconds on Majka, who he trailed by six, and the overall lead after a fourth-place individual time trial on Friday’s penultimate stage at the Amgen Tour of California before entering the final 125km stage from Mountain High to Pasadena on Saturday.

Bennett had already lodged two other top results earlier in the seven-day stage race, including second in the climb on stage 2 and third in the queen stage to Mount Baldy. The 2011 Tour of Wellington winner entered the day with a 35-second lead on Majka and 36 on American Andrew Talansky (Cannondale-Drapac), and ultimately ended with Bennett taking GC by the same time margins.

“Only when I rode under the banner for the final 3 kilometres did I know that I had won,” admitted Bennett. “I was a bit under pressure, but the team was awesome today. They showed some serious good legs, and so thanks to them.”

Bennett finished 24th on the seventh and final stage won by American Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling), who closed the ATOC with his second stage win of the race.

“It was a very hectic day,” said Bennett. “We thought everything was under control, but then the attacks began. We had to fight for 100 kilometres.”

It was Bennett’s first win at the WorldTour level. The ATOC, which just received WT status for 2017, has been around for a decade, including last year when Bennett finished seventh on GC just three months before he took 10th overall at the three-week Vuelta a España.

As for what’s next, Bennett is hoping this is just a sign of things to come.

“I’m going to build on this,” said the former Cannondale (2014) and RadioShack (2011-2013) rider. “This victory will make a big difference to me. I want to back this up in Europe too in the future.”

Bennett was not the only rider from Down Under to shine in Cali this week, as 25-year-old Australian Lachlan Morton (Dimension Data) continues to make a successful WorldTour comeback with his second fourth-place stage result at ATOC. 

The former Garmin rider also finished seventh overall, sixth on points, fifth on the mountains classification and first as the best young rider.