Exactly two years after almost quitting cycling and going back to college, Sam Bennett is preparing to start his first Tour de France. He has cut himself off from even his parents in order to prepare for the next three weeks.
By Brian Canty
Sam Bennett has revealed that he cut all contact with the outside world for the last three weeks in an effort to ready himself for his first Tour de France.
The 24-year-old makes his debut in the world’s biggest bike race tomorrow but is coming into undercooked because of a recent illness he has had trouble shaking.
Though he was never off the bike for any prolonged period, he has not raced since the Garmin Velothon in Berlin in May; a race he finished second in.
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He said he feels fresh, but not sharp and hopes that will stand to him as the race progresses into the Pyrenees and Alps.
“I’m okay, probably not as good as I’d have liked to be but I’ve not been 100 per cent the last two weeks,” he said.
“But on the flipside, I’m fresh and ready to go and motivated so we’ll see how it goes.
“I would’ve been nervous if I’d really good form and thought I could so something.
“But I just want to enjoy the experience and get through it now and hopefully, if I get an opportunity, I can try and take it. I’ll just take it as it comes.
“Also, because I’m fresh, it might mean come week two, others will tire and I’ll hopefully be able to help out a bit.”
With German TV broadcasting the race and Bennett’s team sponsored by a German company, pressure to deliver is understandably high.
“I’m keen to give them and the Irish fans something to get excited about,” he said.
“That’s why I locked myself away for the last few weeks.
“I didn’t do any interviews or speak to anyone, not even my parents. It’ll be nice to see them this weekend.”
Indeed, Bennett was in a real race to get fully ready and that involved a 10-day block of training, far away from the likes of the Criterium du Dauphine or the Tour de Suisse, where his main rivals were putting the finishing touches to their preparations.
“Everybody around me tends to get more nervous than I do and they’re nervousness rubs off on me,” he reasoned on the rationale for going to ground.
“I stay cool and calm when everyone else is calm, so I find it easier on my own and I rather it that way.
“I was so frustrated trying to get healthy and I just like being in my own bubble.
“It hasn’t hit me yet; that I’m in the Tour de France,” he continued.
“It’s scary when you see the condition guys are in. It’s the same guys I always race but I haven’t seen them at this level.
“Everyone’s so super lean, veins coming outta their legs; all prepped and ready to go. And I’m just feeling like a fat slob!
“You don’t realise how big the race is until you’re here.
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“The amount of work done behind the scenes just to run the race and the teams within it; it’s on another level. It’s just amazing. You wouldn’t see it in any other event.
“I remember watching it growing up, though to be fair I always wanted to be outside on the bike when it was on.
“I was always thinking ‘maybe I could be in that’. And now I am. It’s surreal.
“Maybe everything hasn’t gone exactly right in my build-up but hopefully, I can live out the dream and do what I’ve always dreamt of.”
It’s ironic that Bennett contemplated quitting the sport this day two years ago when he sat down with his father Michael at their home.
“I was injured again and I was sitting down with dad and we were discussing what will I do,” he recalled of that time.
“Will I give up?’ I thought. I was giving it up but I decided to give it one more shot.
“So I suppose it’s not a bad thing that I’m now in the Tour de France; considering I had zero form this time two years ago.”
“I could’ve taken a different path. I could have ended my career at any moment because I knew it didn’t have to be like that.
“But I said I’d go to the end of the season and see how it went.
“I was doing absolutely everything I could but couldn’t get a break. But it all came together in the last few months.”
It’s been over two decades since there’s been an Irish man sprinting in the Tour; Bennett’s Carrick neighbour Sean Kelly the last to frequently contest the chaotic finishes.
And that’s not lost on him either
“There’s been general classification riders, but it’s been a while since there’s been an Irishman in bunch gallops.
“So hopefully I can bring some excitement and I’m thinking about that for sure.
“Having said that, it could go any way; because there are always crashes and I don’t want a repeat of the one I had at Scheldeprijs.
“It’s always nervous the first week of Grand Tours and there’s always a crash but I just want to be safe and obviously I want a good result.”
“Those hilly days down in the Pyrenees and the Alps will be pain on another level.
“But for me they’ll be just about making it to the finish in the best condition I can. I’m not here to win the hilly stages. I’m here for the sprints.”
Bennett said he would be operating “at 80 per cent” for the opening 13.8km individual time trial stage tomorrow ahead of the first expected bunch gallop of this year’s race on Sunday.
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