Sam Bennett’s exit from Deceuninck-QuickStep at the end of the current season has not impacted the team’s selection for the Tour de France, where the Irishman will lead the sprint challenge for the Belgian squad.
Team boss Patrick Lefevere, who said last month Bennett
was leaving the team, has now said the Tour de France may be too hard for Mark
Cavendish, whose comeback to top level sprinting is continuing.
And Lefevere has confirmed Bennett is the favoured man at
the Tour, where he will be aiming to take victories on at least seven stages
that appear to be made for bunch finishes.
Speaking in the Italian media, Lefevere said Cavendish’s season had been complicated and hampered by bad luck as some of the races he was due to ride had been cancelled.
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Asked if Sam Bennett would be at the Tour, Lefevere said: "Bennett and his train, which will take a lot of pressure off Julian’s shoulders so he is freer."
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Bennett won two stages and the green jersey at last year's Tour and while his inclusion in the team for this year's race is no surprise, pro cycling teams have often overlooked even top riders for the Tour if they are about to leave the team.
Lefevere continued: “For Sam it will be the last year with us, it is said that he will return to the Bora, but there are still no certainties. And so for next year, we will rely on Jakobsen's sprints, because I'm sure his return will be a success.”
While Cavendish had won a number of races in recent months, Lefevere told Bici.Pro the Tour was “probably too hard” for the British rider right now.
“Mark did a few races, he was also unlucky, because some he had to do were
canceled,” Lefevere said of Cavendish’s season when asked if the British rider
would be riding the Tour.
“He retired oin the third stage of the Vuelta Andalucia, saying it was not
a race for sprinters. And the next day Greipel won the stage. The Tour is
perhaps too hard for (Cavendish) now.”
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