Sam Bennett was forced out of a major one-day race in Germany last weekend and now misses his last scheduled stage race before the Tour de France (Photo: Philip Martens)
Having pulled out of a one-day race in Germany last weekend because he was ill, Sam Bennett has been forced to withdraw from another event.
He had been scheduled to ride the ZLM Toer in Holland starting with a prologue time trial this evening, Wednesday.
However, while his Bora-Argon 18 team had said he was on course to ride, it revealed just before the event today that the Irish man’s recovery had not progressed enough to enable him to compete.
News of Bennett’s illness first emerged at the end of last week when his team said he would not be riding the Rund um Koln one-day race in Germany, where the squad is registered.
Advertisement
He had won the event last year and would have been one of the favourites for victory on Sunday.
The race regularly ends in a bunch sprint and Bennett has show some great form of late, taking two stage wins and holding the yellow jersey at the Bayern-Rundfahrt one month ago.
The ZLM Toer would have been an invaluable opportunity for Bennett and his lead-out train to fine tune their form and shape ahead of the Tour.
Bennett riding in yellow on the time trial stage of the Bayern-Rundfahrt four weeks ago. He also won two stages in bunch sprints.
Related News
However, while his missing the five-stage event after withdrawing from last Sunday’s race represents a blow to his Tour preparations, the team has played down his illness.
It also reiterated its commitment to backing him as team leader in the Tour next month when revealing its short last for the race in recent days.
“After the very successful first half of the season, Sam Bennett will make his debut in a Grand Tour,” said team manager Ralph Denk on Saturday, despite the Carrick man's illness.
“He is one of the fastest men in the peloton and he deserves to compete with the best sprinters in the biggest race of the world.”
Denk added the team would also confer protected rider status on Dominik Nerz, who will aim for the general classification.
“We’ll add riders to our Tour line-up who support Sam in the sprint preparation and are helpful for Dominik in the mountains,” Denk said of Bora-Argon 18’s final Tour roster to be announced as early as next week.
Bora-Argon 18 Tour short list, with rider ages and nationalities
Jan Barta (30, CZE), Cesare Benedetti (27, ITA), Sam Bennett (24, IRL), Emanuel Buchmann (22, GER), Zakkari Dempster (27, AUS), Bartosz Huzarski (34, POL), Patrick Konrad (23, AUS), Jose Mendes (30, POR), Dominik Nerz (25, GER), Cristiano Salerno (30, ITA), Andreas Schillinger (31, GER), Björn Thurau (26, GER), Paul Voss (29, GER)
Topics
