Geraint Thomas wins Bayern-Rundfahrt overall

Geraint Thomas wins German stage race for second time; Irish sprinter Sam Bennett takes final stage victory

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Geraint Thomas (Sky) won the 2014 edition of Bayern Rundfahrt on Sunday, repeating his victory in the race from 2011.

Thomas won Saturday’s individual time trial stage, and then successfully defending the race lead during Sunday’s final stage to Nurnberg.

Emerging Irish talent Sam Bennett (NetApp-Endura) out-paced Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2r) and Raymond Kreder (Garmin-Sharp) to take the final stage win in Nurnberg.

Mathias Frank (IAM Cycling) was second overall behind Thomas, with Sky’s Vasil Kiryienka rounding out the podium in third.

“I’d done a lot of hard training before the race at our altitude training camp in Tenerife, and I was pleased to feel strong and ride hard here,” said Thomas via the Team Sky website after the win.

“This win has definitely boosted my confidence heading into a busy summer. I’ve got the Dauphine coming up next and then hopefully the Tour de France. It was nice to get this result but now I’m already focusing on helping Chris [Froome], and I’m really looking forward to that.”

The event marked Gabriel Rasch’s debut as a directeur sportif for Team Sky. Both Rasch and Thomas left the race to head to France to recce the route of stage five of the Tour de France, which features cobbled sectors.

Results
Bayern-Rundfahrt 2014, stage five: Wassertrudingen to Nurnberg, 159.6km
1. Sam Bennett (Irl) NetApp-Endura
2. Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Ag2r
3. Raymond Kreder (Ned) Garmin-Sharp
4. Alexandr Porsev (Rus) Katusha
5. Phil Bauhaus (Ger) Team Stolting all same time

Final overall classification
1. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
2. Mathias Frank (Sui) IAM Cycling at 19 secs
3. Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky at 35 secs
4. Leopold Konig (Cze) Netapp-Endura at 43 secs
5. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ at 1-10
6. Jan Barta (Cze) Netapp-Endura at 1-35
7. Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge at 1-38
8. Johann Tschopp (Swi) IAM Cycling at 1-58
9. Marcel Wyss (Sui) IAM Cycling at 2-00
10. Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky at 2-04

Sam Bennett wins Stage 5 of the 2014 Bayern Rundfahrt

Sam Bennett wins Stage 5 of the 2014 Bayern Rundfahrt