After battling injuries and illness and not being selected for the Tour de France, Sam Bennett finally scored his first career victory in the biggest cycling race on the planet on Tuesday.

Even in this year's Tour, which is clearly in great form, the Dečuninck-QuickStep racer finished fourth, second, and third in the previous stage before crossing the finish line on the Ile de Re ahead of Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal), Peter Sagan (Beulah Hansgrohe) and had already hit the post three times.

As a result, the Irish national champion and his Detunink-Quick-Step team took their second stage win of the 2020 Tour de France, and Bennett reclaimed the green jersey ahead of former teammate Sagan to complete the Grand Tour win "set completed the "set.

However, the 29-year-old Bennett later said that initially his feat did not sink in, due to a combination of relief that the long wait was over and the release of pressure from his shoulders.

"It was really weird because the team seemed to have gone too perfectly," Bennett said of his final moments on stage and how he felt afterwards.

"It was almost like a shock. So many great sprinters have achieved results through this team.

Top class speedmen who have come before Bennett in Deceuninck-QuickStep include Marcel Kittel, Mark Cavendish, Fernando Gaviria, and most recently Elia Viviani. Expectations for Bennett could not have been higher, and at the end of a singular day of crashes, Bennett proved he could handle the task.

Bennett affirmed that "everyone on the team" played a part in his success and thanked everyone.

"He was so calm, so smooth, so perfect. With 200 meters to go, I was in first place. I knew it was a headwind, so I went with his wheel."

As for whether Caleb Yuan made a last ditch effort to cross the finish line, Bennett said, "I didn't think about it. There were moments when I should have thrown the bike harder at the finish because it was too big a race to make a mistake.

"I felt I had power near the line, but my legs died a couple of kilometers before the line. The team worked hard to protect me, but even if you are protected you always get wind here and there. So there's always the possibility of losing, but in those moments you just have to go."

Comparisons to Sean Kelly are inevitable, with his bunch sprints in the Tour de France, his green jersey, and his nationality, but in Bennett's case, from Carrick-on-Suir, they are doubly and triply true.

Bennett spoke at this year's Tour de France of his pride in representing Ireland in the national champion's jersey, recognizing the huge support he and Kelly have received back home. However, he warned that just because he leads in the points standings is far from a guarantee that he will return home with the green in his suitcase, as his countryman has done four times. He noted, "There's a reason Peter [Sagan] has won so many times."

When asked which he would rather do, stand on the Champs-Elysées in green or celebrate winning the final stage of the Tour de France in less than two weeks, he really hesitated. [San Remo, the World Championships, and the Champs Elysees are my dreams. But I never thought about it until I wore green, and maybe I'll take it ...... There was a pause, followed by a big smile and a laugh. I'll take whatever you have."

But whatever happens in Paris, Bennett's achievement at the Ile de Ré remains a landmark in his career and the end of one too-long chapter. As for the opening of the next stage and its potential, the next finish of the Tour will be in Poitiers (where Kelly won in 1978), and hopes will be high for a repeat of the Irishman's victory tomorrow.