Sam Bennett and Ryan Mullen are set to get their season back on the road after spending July at home due to their non-selection for the Tour de France by Bora-hansgrohe.
The German team decided to go all-in for Aleksandr Vlasov in the French Grand Tour and picked a team to support the Russian, who rode to 5th overall. That came at the expense of aiming for sprint stage wins with Bennett, meaning the Carrick-on-Suir man and his lead-out rider Mullen were not picked.
Bennett has one win under his belt this year, Eschborn-Frankfurt in Germany May 1st. In previous years his strike rate has been much higher, though he still has plenty of time to bounce back to winning ways before season end.
Bennett and Mullen will be back in action from tomorrow at the Tour de Pologne, where even one victory for Bennett would be a great re-start to his season. Also on the team is Shane Archbold, another lead-out resource.
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The Bora-hansgrohe line-up for the seven-stage race is completed by Giovanni Aleotti, Cesare Benedetti, Sergio Higuita and Jordi Meeus.
Bennett will come up against rival sprinters like Mark Cavendish (QuickStep Alpha Vinyl), Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain-Victorious), Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), Ethan Hayter and Elia Viviani (Ineos Grenadiers), Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma), Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco) and Pascal Ackermann (UAE Team Emirates).
The opening stage tomorrow - some 218.8km from Kielce to Lublin - features two small cat 4 climbs before the race enters the final 50km, followed by a drag up to the finish line; one that Bennett should be able to compete on.
Similarly, Sunday's stage 2 looks like another day for the sprinters as the 203.9km stage from Chełm to Zamość involves only modest climbing in the first half of the race followed by a flat finale and finish.
The following three stages are typical of the Tour de Pologne - littered with small but frequent climbs that generally split the field to pieces - before the TT next Thursday. There is another possible chance for the sprinters on the final stage next Friday as the climbing comes very early in the stage, offering a chance for regrouping if the field splits.
