Sam Bennett goes back into action in the pro bunch following a long post-crash lay-off.
By Brian Canty
Ireland’s Sam Bennett is back in action today, Wednesday, after a five-week break following his crash in the final kilometres of the 1.HC- ranked Scheldeprijs in Belgium and the postponement of a subsequent event he was slated to do.
The Bora-Argon 18 man will have the full weight of his team behind him in the 2.HC-ranked Bayern Rundfahrt five-day stage race which commences in Germany today and concludes on Sunday.
It’s a race that holds fond memories for the Carrick man.
He won a stage last year, besting Yauheni Hutarovich (Ag2R La Mondiale) and Raymond Kreder (Garmin Sharp) to the line and really enhancing his reputation.
Since then things have mostly only gone one way for Bennett and this year he’s stepped up another level again, winning the final stage of the Tour of Qatar as well as notching two ten finishes at Tirreno-Adriatico, including third on the first road stage.
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He said while his lack of racing since Scheldeprijs is of some concern, he believes he should be okay this week.
Bennett takes the final stage in Germany last year; he'd dearly love another stage win this time around to relaunch the next phase of his season.
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“I had a week off planned after Scheldeprijs anyway so it was no major deal,” he told stickybottle last night.
“I had to get some work done from the osteopath to get me right after the crash as well as do some maintenance work but it was nothing major. I’m looking forward to getting going again.”
It’s a critical phase of the season and for Bennett especially as he is aiming to maintain his condition and be in peak form come the Tour de France.
The German event is one his team is eager and very motivated to do well in.
“We could have picked more German riders for this but we haven’t,” he said.
“That shows how serious we are about it and we’ll be chasing results this week. It was a bit different last year but having been successful last year kind of raises the bar for this year.”
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