Sam Bennett's Bora-hansgrohe team has declared itself satisfied with the top five Tour de France general classification finish of Aleksandr Vlasov, the Russian rider it built the line-up around. It has also said it intends to attack future Tours following Vlasov's showing and Jai Hindley's Giro d'Italia victory.
Bennett and his lead-out man Ryan Mullen were not selected for the Tour, though both were expecting to ride the race. Just before the French Grand Tour the German team decided to put all its efforts into Vlasov's general classification aspirations, at the expense of Bennett's sprint stage win hopes.
The team said it was targeting a finish on the final podium with Vlasov into Paris, though he crashed on stage 6 before suffering illness in the Alps. Once recovered from those problems he rallied in the final week and moved up from 11th to 5th in the final general classification.
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It was a result the team has now said it was happy with, in the circumstances, and seems to have whetted its appetite for an even more aggressive approach towards the Tour next year and beyond.
"We clearly missed our targets for this Tour, but we can still be satisfied with how the race played out for us. Sport is measured by results, but you also have to see how they are achieved. We were at the head of proceedings, set the tone, and were able to help determine how the racing turned out," said team manager Ralph Denk.
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"Aleks crashed in the first week and felt the effects of his injuries for longer than we first anticipated. In the Alps he also felt sick. In the end, however, his fifth place in the general classification shows his potential. A lot would have been possible and that makes us feel optimistic for the future.
"The others had to unfortunately fight illnesses as well and that cost a lot of energy in such a race. In light of this, I would draw a positive conclusion from this year’s Tour, because essentially the form was there and the will was clearly visible. Nevertheless, one must also acknowledge that we as a team are still missing a piece to be at the forefront. The dominance of Jumbo-Visma was impressive and you can only take your hat off to them.
"We’ve already drawn some conclusions from this Tour and we will do our homework. Our focus this year was on the Giro, that's what we've always said, and we were very successful there, having won the maglia rosa. Next year we want to attack in the Tour, and we now know where the bar is set and that there is still work to be done."
Sam Bennett still has next year to run on his current contract with Bora-hansgrohe. Despite the team's apparent shifted towards general classification on Grand Tours, Irish sprinter Bennett will look to recapture his form and prove too valuable to omit from the Tour team next year.
Either way, Bora-hansgrohe management seem intent on focusing on GC, with Vlasov's ability to overcome adversity and still finish 5th overall on the Tour apparently only serving to underline its future general classification aspirations.
