Ireland’s Sam Bennett is out of the Tour de France despite having been cleared just days ago to ride the race after his knee injury had apparently responded well to rest.
However, his team has now said this afternoon the injury has ruled the Irishman out of the Tour after all. And Mark Cavendish has been brought into the set-up in his place as team sprinter.
For Bennett to ride the Tour, his knee had to recover and do so in time to allow him be properly prepared for the race. And the 30-year-old Carrick-on-Suir man has effectively lost that race against time to be ready.
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Deceuninck-QuickStep confirmed two weeks ago that Bennett had suffered an injury to his knee. The team said the injury arose during a training incident and seemed to suggest it was minor.
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However, days later team boss Patrick Lefevere said it was worse than the team had suggested. And Lefevere said at that time he was concerned Sam Bennett would not make it to the Tour.
“The problem is that he is suffering from inflammation of the patellar tendon and that’s a persistent injury,” Lefevere said of Bennett in his column in Nieuwsblad at the time.
“We’ve been through it before with Tom Boonen, Zdenek Stybar and
Andrea Bagioli, all of whom even had surgery. Will Sam make the Tour? At
the moment we don’t know. He has to rest until at least Monday.”
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