Conditions were good, but the westerly wind picked up later in the day, making the return journey tougher.
By the halfway point, McNeil and Bennett were being closely tracked by their co-markers Marcia Goode, climbing strongly, and Clint Black.
Not far behind were Marty Hewson, Curtis Weir, Martin Hogan, Karl Rusden and Brian Scott.
Further back, the second break group was making up some leeway with steady contributions from Rob Gemmell, Darcy Forrester, Brian Scrimshaw and John Black.
In turn, chasing hard was a strong break bunch in which Rob Chamberlain, Steve Cowan, Richard Stanton, Lewis Bunker and Garry Anderson were all good workhorses.
The scratch group, which included the usual suspects, was weakened when Adam Gosney pulled the pin before halfway and Pat Johnson was forced out by a puncture just before the turn.
Matt Goode was again clearly the strongest, while Phil Groves, Jason Sturzaker and Bevan Cheatley were all helping, but they were struggling to peg back those ahead.
Hanging tough was young triathlete James Wright who missed his original start group and was doing well to foot it with the back markers.
After some hard work, they eventually reeled in Chamberlain's break group after about 50km.
The tough stuff came during the major obstacle of the day Reid's Hill with about 18km to travel.
First up was the lightweight Marcia Goode, followed closely by McNeil, Clint Black, Bennett, Hogan and Weir.
These riders still had a decent lead as the chasing groups split up under pressure behind them.
Gemmell and Scrimshaw were the first of the next group up while Matt Goode and Groves were first of the back markers, although they were a full 10min behind Goode's mother in the race lead.
Up front, the lead group whittled down to a quartet; Bennett, Marcia Goode, McNeil and Clint Black.
With 14km left to travel and victory within reach they knuckled down and they were still clear with a kilometre left.
Entering the finishing straight, McNeil launched his sprint and got to the line with a comfortable buffer over Bennett, who showed the best form of his current campaign.
Marcia Goode rode a terrific race to nail third spot ahead of Clint Black, who put in some powerful work in the closing stages.
Rusden was next home after a gap in fifth place, and Cowan burnt off Forrester at the head of a big bunch for sixth, 3min behind the winner.
Groves headed in the scratch group to claim time honours for the day.
The B-graders raced over the same course as the A-graders, but turned earlier at Wiley's Bridge for the 48km race distance.
It was the talented Pat Carroll who was quickest up the hill on the way back and went clear to score a convincing win for line and time honours.
Dean Blackwell easily handled the jump up to B-grade competition with a strong finish to cross second ahead of comeback rider Rob Manson.
Manson has had to overcome recent health issues so his third placing was full of merit.
The five C-graders went to the top of Reid's Hill and back for 34km and although they stayed together until the turn it was Mark Keelty who slipped away on the homeward leg to go clear for a 19sec win.
Debbie Cain claimed second place while Craig Whittaker turned in a good effort for third.
