Sam Bennett will be missed from the National Championships, having opted out to give himself the best chance possible at the Tour de France.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Sam Bennett will not be racing this year’s National Road Race Championships, it has emerged.
One of the sport’s hottest properties at the moment, the Bora-Argon 18 man will instead focus on two races abroad as he puts the finishing touches to his preparations for a maiden Tour de France ride from July 4th- to 26th.
Bennett, who finished second in the 1.1-ranked Garmin Velothon in Berlin on Sunday, will travel to another one-day event in Germany in two weeks; Rund um Koln (1.1)
After that he will go to the Netherlands for the UCI 2.1-ranked five-day ZLM Tour.
The Dutch encounter starts on June 17th and finishes on the 21st.
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It means Bennett could make the road race showdown in Omagh, Co Tyrone, which takes place a week later on the 28th.
However, to give himself the best chance of being in top condition for what will be his first Grand Tour, Bennett’s team has decided against him going to the Irish nationals, hosted by Omagh Wheelers.
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Bennett on the attack during last year's title race in Westmeath. He missed the early escape and did not feature in the final results (Photo: George Doyle)
The news will come as a blow to the organisers as Bennett would have really added to the championships, and definitely been a top contender.
The Tour de France starts in the Netherlands and ZLM will be an ideal opportunity for Bennett to expose himself to a hard stage race with plenty of chances for bunch sprints.
His team will be doing the Criterium du Dauphine – from June 7th to 14th.
But with fewer chances for the sprinters there, it appears a logical decision to send him to the Netherlands.
Last year, top sprinters Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal), Greg Henderson (Lotto-Soudal) and Marcel Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) all won a stage of the ZLM Tour.
Riding that race in the build-up to the Tour will see Bennett go head to head with those riders he will face in the bunch sprints during the three-week outing in France.
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