U23 National Champion: Bennett’s early season has been disrupted by flu
Mark Cassidy and Sam Bennett will finally get their seasons underway in Belgium on Saturday after missing the opening races of the year in France and Portugal.
Both Irish riders are part of a seven-man An Post-Sean Kelly team taking in the UCI 1.2 Beverbeek Classic.
Cassidy and Bennett will be joined on the start line by fellow Irishmen Sean Downey and Connor McConvey as well as three of their Belgian team mates.
It’s a race the team should be able to animate, with two of its riders from last year doing well in the 2011 edition.
Philip Lavery was up the road in a breakaway for over 50km before the escape was caught, while Dries Hollanders managed to clip away in a two-man breakaway towards the finish and was narrowly beaten to the win.
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The race usually features some of the better club teams from Belgium, along with a larger number of Continental teams and usually two or three Pro Continental outfits.
It’s a typical early season classic-style race in Belgium, taking the riders on a 175km run through the Limburg region of Belgium, not far from much of the course of the Amstel Gold and this year’s World Road Race Championships.
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An Post-Sean Kelly manager Kurt Bogaerts said he was hopeful the riders could get a result, and even get the team’s first win of the season.
“We had a second placing in last year’s Beverbeek Classic, so the aim is to go one better, but it will not be easy,” he said.
Belfast man McConvey is a slight doubt to start after falling ill with flu and being forced out of the Volta ao Algarve last week. However, the team is hopeful he will be OK to ride, with a decision on that to be taken tomorrow, Friday.
While McConvey and Downey both already have some good racing in their legs just weeks into the season, former Ras stage winner and yellow-jersey holder Cassidy has opted to wait until now to get his campaign underway.
Bennett has been sidelined with flu and so has not raced yet. He was originally down to start the Volta ao Algarve but was forced out and his place taken by Ronan McLaughlin.
Apparently Bennett had been going very well in training in recent months, but having a week off the bike won’t have helped his preparation so it will be interesting to see how he fairs on Saturday.
The race will be a good introduction for Downey – based in France until this season - to the infamous early season jaunts up the Belgium lanes that usually involve plenty of cobbled sections and rain.
An Post-Sean Kelly also has a team in the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne on Sunday. We’ll bring you more on that later.
Team for Beverbeek Classic (1.2)
- Mark Cassidy (IRL)
- Sam Bennett (IRL)
- Sean Downey (IRL)
- Connor McConvey (IRL)
- Roy Jans (BEL)
- Kenneth Van Bilsen (BEL)
- Joren Segers (UK)
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