Kiwi cyclist George Bennett is pleased with his fourth-place finish in at the Tour of Poland this week.
The 28-year-old was third heading into Saturday's (NZ time) final stage, but his fifth-place finish on the seventh state saw him leapfrogged by Simon Yates and Thibaut Pinot in the general classification.
Yates and Pinot finished first and second respectively on the final stage, while Bennett crossed the line 12 seconds later in fifth.
While he missed out on a podium finish, Bennett told Newshub he was pleased with his overall performance during the tour.
"I did better than I expected regarding where I finished," he said. "It is a good confidence boost heading into the Vuelta.
"It's been a strange week because I felt sluggish and tired when I came into the tour.
I started with a heavy load in my legs so I was lucky the first two days were easy so I managed to freshen up during the race.
"I would have signed off with this result at the start of the week, so I can't complain much."
Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski won the seven-stage tour, beating Yates in the race for the yellow jersey by 15 seconds, while Bennett was a further nine seconds back.
The Nelson rider will now how two weeks to prepare for the final grand tour race of the season, the Vuelta a Espana which runs from August 26 and finishes on September 16.
Last season, the LottoNL-Jumbo rider was forced to pull out of the Vuelta a Espana due to illness during the 11th stage. His best finish in the Spanish event was 10th in 2016.
"I will have a few days to freshen up, but then I'll get right back into training with some seven-hour bike rides.
"I will then do some altitude training and then it's down to sea level where I'll do some more training."
Newshub.
