Although he now has three victories under his belt, NetApp Endura sprinter Sam Bennett is already looking for the next one.
By Gerard Cromwell
Minutes after taking the third victory of his professional career, which is still only four months old, it is telling that Sam Bennett’s first reaction was not one of joy or delight.
Instead the Carrick-on-Suir man spoke of his relief at ‘finally’ winning again.
“I feel relief because after the last few races I felt like they didn’t go the way I wanted them to,” said the NetApp Endura sprinter.
“After winning today I just feel a lot of pressure has been lifted.”
The fact that Bennett rides for the German registered NetApp Endura squad means that this latest win, which came on the final stage of prestigious German four-day Bayern Rundfahrt, also lifted a bit of pressure off the whole team.
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“With the race being in Germany, there was a little bit of pressure on us this week but we got good results," he said.
"We had fourth, third, second on stages and then a win and I got the points jersey too, so the team are delighted.”
Bennett takes NetApp Endura’s first victory of the season and the first win of his fledgling pro career at the Clasica de Almeria on March 2nd.
Bennett’s squad have shown a lot of belief in their young neo-pro and he has gone into quite a few races this season as a protected rider.
Yesterday, once again, he had the whole team looking after him in the early kilometres before his lead-out men hit the front on the finishing circuits in Nurnberg.
“The first couple of kilometres were hard because we had to do two laps with a steep climb on it. I thought I was being clever and drifting back on the hill to save the legs but on the first lap the peloton split in so many groups that I thought I was gone.
"I kept my cool though and the group I was in made its way back up, so it worked out in the end. But I could have lost it all there. I had Bartosz (Huzarszki) keeping me in great position all day.
"All I had to do was sit on his wheel and, if there was a strong acceleration in a line out or on a hill, he’d just ease off the power and even if he left two or three bike lengths in front of him he’d close it slowly, without jumping, so that left the legs a bit fresher too."
NetApp Endura have put quite a bit of time and effort into perfecting their lead out train this season and although the squad rotates depending on the races, it is clearly paying off.
“The finishing circuit was hard. There was a little stinger of a hill on it but 'Schwarzy' (Michael Schwarzmann) did a great job leading me out to about 500m to go.
"I got a little bit boxed in, but luckily the whole bunch swung to the left and I had great sprinting legs. Obviously I got great support from the lads again today and I couldn’t have done it without them.
Breakthrough Moment: Sam Bennett blasts home to take stage 5 of the Tour of Britain into Caerphilly last September; a win that sealed his elevation to the ProContinental ranks, and from which he has not looked back (Photo: Larry Hickmott – VeloUK.net)
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"We’re kind of learning more about each other; who needs to be in front of who in the train and stuff like that.
"In every race the team is different so it’s hard to start from scratch each time but it’s coming together, so maybe I’m getting the hang of it now.”
Having outgunned Ag2r’s Yauheni Hutarovich, Raymond Kreder of Garmin Sharp and the rest of the field in the sprint to the line for his third win of the season, Bennett admits he is still looking for more.
“I always said I wanted consistency," he said.
"The consistency is there but I need consistent wins now. I can’t complain. I am happy... but now I’m looking at where I can get the next win. Maybe I’m putting too much pressure on myself but in some ways that’s good.”
A new team and a new coach have also coincided with a new approach to training and it’s been paying dividends for Bennett thus far and since winning a very tough stage in the Tour of Britain last September he simply has not looked back.
“I suppose it’s a bit in the head as well. I’ve more confidence now. Making sure I’m always healthy rather than trying to get good training in has played a big role too.
"If I need to miss two or three days training just to stay healthy, I do that. After this week, now I have three days off and staying fresh and having a good structured training programme is working really well.”
Having been recently nominated to the NetApp Endura long list for the Tour de France in July, his latest win will further speculation of a debut ride in the world’s biggest bike race.
“People keep putting it up on twitter and everybody keeps saying it,” says Bennett.
“I know I’m getting up in sprints but it’s different riding a stage race like that. It’s a different level.
"The guys are so much stronger. I’m sprinting fairly well but I still have to work on getting a big engine to do a race like that.”
In the past however, promising young riders like Bennett have been afforded the chance to ride the first week or 10 days of their debut Grand Tour in order to gain experience.
So could we see him line up in Yorkshire next month with that in mind?
“It’d be nice to even start the Tour but the team have so many riders that can do a good ride there, and they’re all strong enough to finish it and finish it well.
"I think they’d probably favour the guys that can get through the Tour well rather than putting me in a box.
"I think they’d want to look after me a bit. I don’t know. If it comes my way it comes my way, but if it doesn’t, I wont get too upset.”
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