Sam Bennett has paid tribute to the career of Caleb Ewan, saying he knew him well on and off the bike, and that both had pushed each other as rivals and drew the best out of themselves.
The Irishman, who starts the Giro d’Italia tomorrow looking to add to his 10 career Grand Tour stage wins, said he knew Ewan very well – both based in Monaco. However, he was very surprised when the Australian announced this week he was retiring immediately.
“It was a bit of a shock actually, a guy I've been quite close to in the peloton and off the bike as well,” Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) said of Ewan exiting Ineos Grenadiers and pro cycling immediately.
“It's a shock that people around me are retiring because I still feel quite young. And I feel like I’ve a good couple of years left in me. But it feels weird actually.
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“We had some good battles, and some moments in our career when we pushed each other to our limits and got the best out of ourselves because of it.”
Bennett has not won a stage of a Grand Tour since bagging two in the first half of La Vuelta in 2022, only for Covid-19 to then force him out of the race early. He win two stages at the Tour in 2020, and the green jersey, but has not ridden that race since, mainly due to knee injuries derailing his efforts for a long time.
Though he has won races since the 2022 Vuelta, including four already this year, he was asked if the example of Mark Cavendish – who stormed back to take four wins at the 2021 Tour de France after very lean seasons – was something that inspired him.
“It's hard to compare yourself to somebody who was one of the greats of all time,” Bennett said of Cavendish’s return, after so many seasons in the wilderness blighted by illness and injury.
“But it shows you can still be winning at the top level as a sprinter at an older age. The trend in cycling now is to go younger and younger. But there’s plenty of life in the older riders too.”
