Sam Bennett will have a weight lifted off his shoulders and could go on to taste further Tour de France success today, according to Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly.
The Carrick-on-Suir sprinter broke down in emotion yesterday after sealing his first stage win in the illustrious race, completing the set of winning a stage in all of cycling's grand tours.
The momentous victory saw him once again grab hold of the green jersey and comes after two heartbreaking close calls in last week's early stages.
The 29-year-old's outpouring of emotion saw over a decade of hard work come to fruition, and irish legend Sean Kelly reckons the win will take the pressure off Bennett.
"It's been a long time coming but at last he gets his stage victory. Well deserved," Kelly told RTE Sport.
"There were a lot of expectations of him, changing team coming into this year, and a team that is a specialist lead-out for a sprinter like Sam (Deceuninck-Quick Step).
"It’s not a surprise that we see him winning. It’s an enormous achievement and it takes so much pressure off him going forward in this Tour de France."
With yesterday's tenth stage favouring Bennett, he could be in for another favourable day today - with Stage 11's 167.5km trip from Châtelaillon-Plage to Poitiers set up for the fast men to go for glory once more.
Bennett is now 21 points ahead of nearest green jersey challenger Peter Sagan, a win today could reinforce his hold on the points classification and give him a strong chance of holding onto the jersey heading towards the final week.
With Caleb Ewan and Sagan his main rivals today, Kelly has backed the Deceuninck-Quick Step man to kick on and go for glory again.
"The stage today is the stage that I won my first Tour de France stage in," Kelly added. "It’s a long time ago but I have a lot of clear memories.
"It’s going to be an interesting day because now Sam has got his first victory and when you get that feeling, you feel like you can win many more.
"It’s a big possibility that he could get his second stage victory within 24 hours.
"When you get the taste of victory as an athlete and a professional cyclist you just want to get more."
